In memoriam

Remembering Geoff Tinker

15 July 1943 - 11 February 2024

Geoff, was a very important mentor to many people in his life. He had a keen interest in each person he dealt with and encouraged them to reach their potential. His values inspired many people. As a director, he was the eyes and ears for the organisation. Always on the lookout for things that would benefit the group.
As the eyes and ears of the organisation, he loved to share what he learned and experienced and encouraged others to learn from his experience. When he studied for an MBA, almost every week he shared what he felt was appropriate for the company. For example, to understand better the personalities in the management team he shared Debono’s theory on the Six Thinking Hats. He was the Yellow Thinking Hat, which symbolised brightness and optimism, Yet he also wore the Red Thinking Hat symbolising significant feelings, hunches, or intuitions which he articulated clearly to the management team. In the process he also wore the Green Thinking Hat of creativity, exploring new ideas to introduce different alternatives and possibilities.

He was however not averse to wearing the Black Thinking Hat that despite his inherent optimism, he had a realistic view why things could go wrong or may not work.

He left the White Thinking Hat to others who only wanted to know “The facts and just the facts”. Fortunately, around him he had a good, trusted, and long-term friend in John Martin who wore The Blue Thinking Hat and controlled all the different ideas and opportunities to make things happen. Based on his innovative thinking skills, he introduced many things to the company that had a long and lasting value. Under his tendering leadership, he introduced to Martin & East a wider spectrum of construction projects. He had a distrust of outward boastful show-off of wealth, power, and prestige. Yet he instilled a deep sense of the true economic value of saving and investing. As a result, he introduced to the Martin & East group several different companies for example: Zebra which started in 1983 using a small mini paver BK26. The machine still stands outside their building as memory of the small beginning.

At the time, the listed companies and bigger local companies dominated the market. Zebra with their small paver and the innovation of the time of using smaller vibrating rollers, operated at substantially lower costs and over the years all these bigger companies ceased to operate in the Western Cape. Other Companies started with Geoff’s motivation were Tiffany Construction, City Plant Hire, Ferness Properties, Ex-Cem Construction, Medine, a precision engineering company. All these companies were started with the objective of meeting a niche in the market but also to allow wider ownership by the management team in the company.

Geoff recognised that investing in private equities or publicly listed companies was an important way to create wealth, both for the shareholders and everyone who worked in the organisation. In all his business dealings, he operated with the utmost good faith and integrity. But Geoff’s life was not all about work and investing. He loved the Outdoors and would share his experiences of: Hiking on the mountains of the Western Cape, or five-to-ten-day hikes in the remote parts of the country and Namibia, or 4x4 Trails through Angola, or canoeing around Simonstown to Cape Point.

His descriptions of these activities were so vivid that one felt that you were with him enjoying the grandeur of the scenery or the terrifying fear when the South Easter blew out form nowhere jeopardising those paddling in the ocean!

Wherever Geoff went, he had his video camera and recorded many memorable scenes with family, friends, and colleagues.

Above all he was a loving, caring and generous family man. Devoted to his wife Lynette and always willing to celebrate the exploits and achievements of David, Vanin and Justine.

We bid you farewell Geoff

Though we will miss your presence, we will treasure your significant impact on our lives.