Remembering Reynold Greenlaw

1966 – 2021

We are very sad to announce the death of OCC Director Reynold Greenlaw (1966–2021). On Monday 9th August, he was diagnosed with advanced gastrointestinal cancer. After that, his decline was rapid.

His death is a source of huge loss to everybody who knew him because, quite simply, he was a good man. A very good man who had an instinct for fairness and a wonderful empathy with everyone around him. Reynold never had to “try” – his attributes came naturally to him and needed no training, tuning or indeed effort. At OCC he was a friend, a father figure and an inspiration.

Reynold joined OCC in 1997, when there were no more than a dozen staff. He has been at the heart of OCC’s growth, with his innate understanding of the application of IT to science-based business problems. He had a PhD in physics from Leeds University and led OCC’s research and innovation into health-based technologies. His first major project was developing assistive telemedicine for rehabilitation in people with Parkinson’s disease. It is a field that interested him throughout his professional career and we continue to support Parkinson’s research today. In 1999, he established our reputation with National Grid, making us the first SME to model and plan power distribution for National Grid. Before OCC, he worked in the neurophysiology group at Oxford Instruments, where he was a C++ engineer on ambulatory EEG and sleep monitor software. This consisted of software development for FDA-approved medical applications. Certified medical device development remains a key area of expertise for OCC today.

Reynold became head of ID in August 2013. He was such a natural fit for this role, and he developed a wonderful relationship with his team, clients and the other OCC directors. Reynold has been a wonderful OCC director, always providing a calm, thoughtful and positive perspective.

In recent years he expanded ID’s reach and made OCC the go-to company for software development for university spinouts. He built a reputation for quality, technical understanding and reliability with Oxford University Innovation. Reynold was passionate about his work. His natural interest meant he always researched topics carefully and his innate ability to work with people meant that clients always thought of him as a partner.

In June, we interviewed Reynold about how OCC transforms AI into commercial applications. It’s a memory of Reynold we can treasure. In the interview, he is his usual engaging, clear and intelligent self, though there is a sad irony in some of the discussions about our own work in detecting the early onset of disease.

Reynold has been at the heart of OCC for over 24 years. John Boyle, Chairman and Finance Director, remembers many adventures from the early days. Once they found themselves stuck on a mountaintop at 6 pm after strong schnapps and were told by the guide that they would be eaten by bears if they didn’t get down the mountain immediately. John and Reynold have ridden horses together (dangerous – but it was while cycling home from riding that Reynold had the accident that lost him his little finger), sat on river banks with good bottles of wine and spent many hours playing cards in airport lounges. Good and relaxed conversation was always guaranteed.

Reynold is part of the OCC family. We will look after his wife Liz to make sure she is supported. We will also set up a scheme to commemorate Reynold’s contribution in due course. If you would like to pass on a message of condolence, please contact us at hello@systemc.com.

1 September 2021 was the saddest day in OCC’s history.

OCC Directors 2nd September 2021