Go, said the bird, for the leaves
were full of children,
Hidden excitedly, containing laughter.
Go, go, go, said the bird: human kind
Cannot bear very much reality.
Time past and time future
What might have been and what has been
Point to one end, which is always present.T.S. Eliot
John Neilson
John Neilson and UCDS
John Neilson and MicrosoftJohn Neilson
"When John Neilson talks, he tears through his sentences with intensity, doubling and tripling important words as if trying to amplify their meaning, to match the resonance of ideas in his head. Things are not just cool. They are 'super, super cool.' "
Kellogg World, 1995
John Neilson was born in New York City to John Fullerton Neilson and Prudence Coleman Sellars. He has one brother, Thomas Sperry of Boston, and three sisters, Nina Cobb, Mandy Kane, Sarah Sperry. He was raised in Litchfield, Conn.
John attended the Taft School in Watertown, Conn. and Kenyon College in Gambier, Ohio, where he co-edited the literary magazine, then titled Hiaka. After graduating, John interned with George Plimpton at the Paris Review, a leading literary journal, before enrolling in the Kellogg Graduate School of Management at Northwestern University, from which he received his master's degree in 1987.
In 1997 the Kellogg School of Management honored Mr. Neilson with its Schaffner Award for distinguished alumni.
John met his wife, Emmy, at Boarding School when he was 16 and she was 15 years old. They were married in the summer of 1987 and moved to Seattle soon after the honeymoon. Together they had 3 beautiful children: Susie, Ellie, and Jay.
John was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin's lymphoma in November, 1997, and lost his battle to the disease in May, 1999.
John Neilson and UCDS
"Daron [UCDS teacher] and I talked to John for quite a while after the admissions tour. He wanted to know everything. He asked about our personal philosophies, and about all the specialists' classes. He thought it was so cool that we had Spanish for pre-K kids. Overall, after chatting for a while we learned (among other things) that he thought too many grown ups didn't have high enough expectations for little kids...that's when I knew he (they) were a good fit with UCDS."
Denise Dyette, UCDS Teacher"John was a friend, so we would occasionally talk about how lucky we were to have found such a superb school for our children. He clearly loved the place. You could see the excitement in his eyes every time he dropped his kids off in the morning or engaged in conversation with a teacher."
Libby Armintrout, Chair, UCDS Board of Trustees
John and Emmy enrolled their first child, Susie, in UCDS in September 1997, and both Ellie and Jay in 1998.
"When Susie was a kindergartner, she and her Dad read great literature and poetry together. They had sort of developed an oral tradition of storytelling within the family. Susie, in turn inspired the whole class (along with the teacher) to begin a tradition of storytelling at school.
It was during a school-wide study of Chronos: A Journey in Time, that Susie and John would bring in the poems and share them with the class and the teachers. By sharing the works of T.S. Eliot, John gave us visions of a world of abstraction with all things "remaining in perpetual possibility." As the year pressed on, and John's disease progressed, this poetry-sharing and storytelling seemed to take on even more meaning...it was like an "eternal flame" of sorts. It seemed that it was one of the ways John was helping Susie (and all of us) not only cope with what was coming, but also to weave a tapestry of memories, which is the fabric of life."
Daron Henry, UCDS TeacherBurnt Norton, by T.S. Eliot was a favorite poem of Susie and John, and one they shared in Daron's class. The quote at the top of this page is from that poem.
"John always had a story to tell me about his children. He was fascinated by the unfolding of the intellect and would recognize the significance of even the simplest things his children would do or say. John was a natural teacher and loved to give his children opportunities to lead a conversation. He loved having his daughter Susie teach him to understand. John opened himself up to her world and would actually enter it so that he could see what she saw."
Paula Smith, Head of SchoolAll three children are thriving at UCDS.
John Neilson and Microsoft
"As a friend, father and colleague, John was one of the most thoughtful, caring people I knew. I admired the courage, perseverance and humor with which John fought his battle with the disease. It was the kind of attitude that made him such a great leader at Microsoft and such a good friend to [my wife] Melinda and me, as well as to many others."
Bill Gates, Chairman of Microsoft"(John) really loved that company, and everyone there."
Bill Kane, Brother In Law"Give me smart, hard-working people and there's nothing we can't do."
John Neilson
Six-foot-four, slender and erect, Mr. Neilson brought an irrepressible optimism to some of Microsoft's thorniest market challenges. After serving as a product manager for two popular Microsoft programs, Flight Simulator and Works, Mr. Neilson gained the attention of senior executives by turning around the company's sales office in New York, his native state, during a two-year stint as district manager.
Returning to Redmond in 1992, Mr. Neilson, as General Manager for Worldwide Business Strategy, teamed with Steve Ballmer, then Sales Chief and now President, to lead Microsoft's first big push into corporate software sales.
Through the 1990's, Mr. Neilson managed several key parts of the effort, including Microsoft's Solution Provider support program for large enterprises. Mr. Neilson created the Certified Professional program that increased Microsoft's product presence in banking, retail, manufacturing, publishing and hospitality circles.
John Neilson was "very creative and imaginative, but also extremely hard working," says Bill Kane, John's brother in law. "He was always saying, 'Give me hard-working, smart people and there's nothing we can't do.'"
Microsoft history is full of Neilson lore, including memorable sales meetings in Chicago where he would treat staff to a night out at a blues bar, capped with a 2 a.m. snack of hot dogs. A blues aficionado, Mr. Neilson kept a Fender Stratocaster guitar handy for impromptu jam sessions.
Once on a trans-Atlantic flight Mr. Neilson challenged Ballmer to a contest to see who could work the longest on their laptop computer. After eight hours, Ballmer shut down for a short nap.
"I called him a wimp," Mr. Neilson later joked.
The above are excerpts from a May 31, 1999 Seattle Times article, written by Paul Andrews.
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