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June 27, 2005
Ode to Dr. Pepper
This afternoon, at the FCC in Washington, D.C., there will be a farewell party for Dr. Robert Pepper, a man whose voice and presence has been heard in the VoIP industry for the past ten years.
If I didn’t *have* to be on the West Coast this afternoon, I would have very much liked to be at Dr. Pepper’s farewell party to share my appreciation for him and his direct contributions to the past, present and future of the VoIP industry.
I first met Pepper at a dinner when I was in London in April, 1996 to attend what was the first conference on Internet Telephony at time when I was gainfully employed by Cantor Fitzgerald Securities. It was during that dinner that I learned that Pepper knew my immediate direct reports at that time since the FCC had reached out to Cantor Fitzgerald to help with the FCC’s first spectrum auction. Just another reminder how small and connected the world was.
I’ve had the fortune of being able to call Pepper a friend since that meeting in April, 1996…and “What a long strange trip it's been…”
I greatly appreciate the support Pepper has provided the VoIP industry over the years and for all of his contributions (both visible and behind the scenes). Pepper, spoke at the first Internet Telephony conference I produced in September, 1996 and has been a presence at many of the events/activities I’ve been a part of ever since.
(Running out of time, trying to write an Ode while sitting at JFK at jetBlue Terminal 6 before boarding my flight to Oakland, CA)
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Ode to Pepper (ver 1.0)
How often does bureaucracy look like a nameless blob
How often does your face appear as someone in a mob
But with a name like a soft drink you rose to occasion
and like an oracle in Delphi you fought against stagnation
Here in Melville you will stand like a guardian of the light
And help this generations autos have a chance in the buggy whip fight
So thank you for being the champion of the VoIP industry when others
thought us a leper
We of course are thanking the man known as Robert Pepper.
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Then again, I think the old Dr. Pepper’s soft drink jingle sums it up quite nicely:
“I'm a Pepper; he's a Pepper; she's a Pepper; we're all Peppers! You can be a Pepper, too!"
This afternoon, in Washington, everyone who is at Pepper’s farewell party will certainly be a Pepper too!
Here to you Dr. Pepper. You will be missed!
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Posted by jeff on June 27, 2005 10:46 AM | Permalink
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