Long-time members of Dial-a-Cab were left
feeling shocked recently by the sudden death at the age of 73 of former
Chairman Martin Gellman. That shock was reflected in the large number of
DaC drivers present at Martin’s funeral held at Golders Green
Crematorium, Hoop Lane on December 10. In a poignant eulogy, Martin’s son Daniel was obviously touched by
the large DaC turnout and mentioned that fact in the tribute to his
father. In addition to those drivers and to show the esteem in which
Martin was held, many of the current Board led by Chairman Brian Rice
were present. Also in attendance were former Chairmen Aubrey Siteman and
Jack Russell and many of the trade’s former beacons such as Harry
Slowman, the man responsible for forming the trade’s Crisis Committee
prior to the LTDA’s formation.
The Gellman’s connection to Dial-a-Cab was deeply entrenched, not
only through his Chairmanship from 1972 to 1976, but son Danny (T19) is
a subscriber, daughter Janine was Office Manager until the arrival of
Trevor Clarke in 1985, his cousin and founder member, Eli Solomons, was
the third Chairman of the Society (1959 – 1962) and of course Martin
himself. That means that there were few – if any – years when there
wasn’t a member of the Gellman family on ODRTS / Dial-a-Cab.
I spoke to Martin on many occasions and also used his incredible
memory as a back up to early ODRTS history. Much of that history will
now go with Martin, but so much that would have been lost is now on file
in Call Sign’s office – something I will always be grateful for.
I spoke to Martin’s wife, Passy together with Danny and Janine over
a cup of tea just before the mourners arrived and however sad they were,
the deserved pride they had in Martin shone through.
Martin Gellman wasn’t just a good Chairman, he was an exceptional
human being and it wasn’t difficult to understand why he was so well
liked by his peers.
On behalf of everyone at Dial-a-Cab, we wish his family a long
life…Alan Fisher
|
Taken 30 years ago at the ODRTS
21st Dinner and Ball in 1974:
Front Row: Phil Emden, Aubrey Siteman, Martin Gellman, Joe Toff, Jack
Taylor.
Back Row: Bill Browne, Phil Missias, Peter Fenneymore and Peter Speroni.
In 1989 at the official unveiling
of our data dispatch system:
Back Row: Aubrey Siteman, Phil Emden, Martin Gellman.
Front Row: Peter Fenneymore and Jack Russell.
|
