Cedric Greive | Pay It Forward

CEDRIC GREIVE | 1.9.1942 – 26.5.2021

ETMP acknowledge and pay our respects to our friend, colleague, mentor, and Tjilpi, Dr. Cedric Greive. We acknowledge his heart for service, love for education and learning, genuine care and concern for others, strong belief in people’s ability to achieve, and an uninhibited love for adventure. He has taught us about life through his daily demonstration of compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, patience and love.

Pay It Forward

What does it truly mean to ‘pay it forward’? Well according to Wikipedia, the term ‘pay it forward’ is an expression for describing the beneficiary of a good deed repaying it to others instead of to the original benefactor.

This definition perfectly describes a beautiful quality of my close friend and colleague, Cedric Greive (PhD – he wouldn’t want me to put the Dr. at the front of his name!), who passed away recently. When I was presented with the gift and privilege by Cedric’s family to share his life sketch, I got to thinking and reflecting on how Cedric over the years had influenced my life and business philosophy and practice. As I delved deeper into his past, and as I listened to his life’s stories from his family, friends, and colleagues, I realised Cedric had a unique gift of ‘paying it forward’.

In my 34 years of knowing him through the eyes of a student, friend, colleague, and life mentor, Cedric had a heart for service, love for education and learning, genuine care and concern for others, strong belief in people’s ability to achieve, and an uninhibited love for adventure. His life was one big adventure, with many stories and sub-plots along the way.

Cedric as a quietly spoken man, full of wisdom, who was never materialistic, always people focused and happy to help out when called upon at any given time. Cedric loved science and nature, favoured the underdog, found value/good points in people, didn’t tick the box for excluding people but rather looked for and found a reason why to include them. Cedric valued friendship over winning arguments.

To me, I didn’t experience Cedric as a religious or theological man, but as a good man who dressed himself in compassion, kindness humility, gentleness, patience and love each and every day of his life.

The following Martin Luther-King quote encapsulates nicely what Cedric paid forward: “Not everybody can be famous, but everybody can be great because greatness is determined by service… You only need a heart full of grace and a soul generated by love.” The staff of ETMP have been the recipient of Cedric’s heart full of grace and love.
I’ll close with a written quote from Cedric himself in a letter he wrote to Danny, a colleague at ETMP, after he had lost his father. Cedric wrote, In this hour of your great sadness, my heart is with you. Go forward with grace and strength – ‘Mamalu’, the Samoans call it. Continue to set that noble example to your family. In essence Cedric was encouraging Danny to ‘pay it forward’.

By ‘paying it forward’, Cedric’s legacy lives on through each of us here at ETMP. At ETMP we value authenticity, lived experience, and story.

Thank you Cedric.