Northamber mourns loss of founder David Phillips

Channel chief dies aged 74

David Phillips, founder of Northamber, has passed away aged 74.

Phillips started the firm in 1980 and grew it to be one of the largest distributors in the UK market.

Northamber released a statement to the London Stock Exchange last week, the distie said that its founder, who had been chairman, died on 4 December following "a short illness".

Geoff Walters, acting chairman, said: "We were extremely saddened to learn of the passing of David.

"Everyone at the Company acknowledges the significant contribution David made to the development and leadership of the Company since he founded Northamber in 1980.

"Our thoughts are with David's family at this difficult time."

Northamber was seen as a breeding ground for tough salespeople in the nineties. The firm was at its largest in 2001 when sales were just under £300m.

But revenue started to fall in the years after, partly because of the loss of a number of vendors including IBM, HP and Fujitsu, while PC sales started to fall.

Sales in its last full year, ending 30 June 2019, were £50.3m.

A post on LinkedIn has seen a number of channel figures leave messages and tributes to Phillips.

Softcat CEO Graeme Watt, who previously worked in distribution with the likes of Tech Data and Avnet, told CRN: "In the eighties and nineties I knew him a lot better and I even talked about him about a role.

"If you measured his success by being able to set up an organisation during that period, and if you look at some of the people that have worked there, then clearly he was a very successful businessman.

"He will be very sadly missed and is a very important person in the history of the UK channel."