I have heard many stories about this company over the years. Some were true. Most were not. First I will tell the story most of you have heard.

 

AccuData was a huge vendor management company that produced a huge volume of work during the 90’s and early 2000’s and eventually went out of business and screwed a ton of people and the owner made off with millions.

 

My version is a bit different. I worked for Accudata in its beginnings. I was there when it all started. The owner Skip Henning interviewed me himself. Quite a confident man I would say but I would not call him arrogant. I would call him genuine. He offered me a generous salary and I worked my tail off for him. He continued to be generous through my next four years with him. I was offered opportunities and I took advantage of them. I eventually became a manager of the central New York region for the abstracting department. Well it wasn’t long after that I decided to move on to explore new career options. But during that time I grew to know Skip quite well. He was kind, outgoing, honest, loyal, extremely creative and the most generous man I have ever known. Many who knew him would call him generous to a fault. You see Skip would spend his own money on everyone around him. He made sure everyone around him was well taken care of. While he worked his tail off to make it all work. He dealt with an enormous amount of stress and his health deteriorated. In the end many who he trusted, betrayed that trust. People took advantage of him and he paid the price. Don’t get me wrong. Ultimately everything was his responsibility. But it wasn’t necessarily his fault. Clients, consultants and in some cases the people he trusted the most took advantage and he was left penniless. Yes it’s true. The man who everyone thought ran off with the money didn’t run off with the money. The close friends who were left did their best to take care of him and his daughter donated one of her kidneys to save his life. Skip never asked anyone for anything because he was too proud. He was too used to taking care of everyone else.

 

Well, I haven’t seen Skip since 2003 or so but I often think of how I would be who I am today if I never met him. I truly appreciate and feel I have benefited significantly from knowing him. You see, I am writing this today because I learned that he passed away on Valentines Day. Imagine that. The man with the biggest heart passed away on Valentines Day. He was only 64.