Obituary - 8148

 

8148 Claus (Nick) E. Lundhild

 

Died: 09 May 2016 (Cancer)

Claus “Nick” Erik Lundhild, 70, peacefully departed this world, at home and was surrounded by his family, on the evening of May 9, 2016. 

He is survived by his loving wife Judy Lundhild. 

He is also survived by their son Robert Lundhild and his wife Ann,, and granddaughter Zoe, as well as by their daughter Joanne and her husband Chris Shelley, and grandchildren Piper, Quinn and Jack, and Nick’s sisters Nancy Lundhild, Barbara Lundhild, Dorothy Hayashi and Evelyn Lundhild.

Nick, Judy, Dave Neely  2009 Reunion    

1995  construction of the Atlanta, Olympic Village.

From Judy – 1979  to 1984

Nick quit the armed forces in October/November 1979 after fulfilling his military obligation.  We moved to Calgary in December 1979 where Nick worked at Imperial Oil/Esso until he was hired to work for the Calgary Olympic Games in 1984. I don’t have contacts from this time period but I know he did enjoy his time working for Imperial Oil.

1984 to 1988

An ad in the Calgary Herald appeared one day from the 1988 Olympic Committee (OCO’88) wanting someone with a background in Technical Services and Nick’s coworkers at Imperial Oil cut it out and showed it to Nick.  They said that Nick should apply for job as it would be a good fit.  Nick was very hesitant to do so, as he believed the job was probably already filled and OCO’88 was just following the necessary protocol.  However Nick did apply for the job and was hired.  Funny thing is, Nick was right!  OCO’88 had already hired someone but after interviewing Nick, they hired him for the job and gave the other guy a different assignment within OCO’88. 

Meet John Russell (Vice – President of Technology).  Thank you John for honouring Nick with your detailed and thorough description (see below) of Nick’s journey during that time.  You certainly challenged him and gave him the gift of a lifetime, that of being part of the Calgary XV Winter Games (OCO’88), which “were the most successful Olympics ever”.  A direct quote from Juan Antonio Samaranch, the 7^th President of the IOC.

Nick Lundhild:   An appreciation.

Nick was General Manager, Technical Services, Calgary 1988 Winter Olympic Games (OCO’88).  This meant that he was responsible for telephone, radio, cable TV, audio systems, timing, scoreboards and spectator displays.  His work was to be found throughout every Olympic facility in Calgary and the mountain venues.

When Nick joined us in 1984, his first job was to define his job.  A very unusual job!  This was because the Olympics were an evolving production, ever-changing with time and location.  Athlete-, broadcaster-, press- and spectator expectations were growing exponentially.  So first, Nick had to study what had been done in the past, and what worked and what didn’t. 

At the same time, Nick had to evaluate the local and other resources available.  Budget restraints were an unknown.  Sponsors and Official Suppliers were actively being sought by Marketing.  The local telephone and data communications provider was the publicly-owned Alberta Government Telephones (AGT, now Telus).  Because of their public status, they could make NO concessions as to established communications tariffs!

Nevertheless, with support from Management and our Board, Nick pressed on.  Soon enough, the picture took shape.  Key Sponsors and Official Suppliers were found and the scene took shape.  As needed, the work expanded to meet the constant scheduling challenges.  Staff and Contractors were added to assist.  An extensive network of Volunteer support was developed.

Assisting AGT were Northern Telecom who engineered and helped deploy tailor-made Olympic telephones and state-of-the-art switchgear to back them up.  To augment the telephone system, a 150 kilometer private closed-circuit cable system was created.  This carried broadcast and other TV to every Olympic facility.  Indeed, it was the first of such networks to carry two-way traffic of both TV and data!  This enabled the wide-spread installation of IBM Info’88 terminals throughout the Olympics.  It was Info’88 that provided TV and current results and two-way messaging between every member of the Olympic Family:  Athletes, Press, Broadcasters and Volunteers alike!

Other less obvious technologies were those that supported event judging, timing and scoreboard operations.  And the ‘ahead-of-its-time’ tractor-trailer-mounted spectator TV that was daily shuttled between mountain events and downtown award presentations!

Most winter Olympic sports competitions are outdoors, some over wide areas.  Communications between race officials can be problematic.  For radio-frequency allocation reasons, then-available cell phones were ruled out.  Instead, some 800 special Motorola hand-held phones were supplied that sub-divided an otherwise unused TV channel.  Calls were arranged and two-way traffic managed through Volunteer-staffed operator centers. The service was hugely successful!

Only Press and Broadcasters got to enjoy their specialty OCO’88 Nortel telephones and Philips TV’s provided in their suites in the Press and Broadcast Villages.

And few knew of the foresight and years of work that lay in the cabling of the venues for all of the above services.

Nick’s departments topped at only 22 managers and employees.  But hundreds of Volunteers were trained to provide the public face to their work.

And so, in the end, EVERYTHING WORKED PERFECTLY!  Thank you, Nick!

John Russell, Vice-President, Technology, Calgary XV Winter Olympic Games (OCO’88).

From Judy -  August 1988 to August 1991

Once the Calgary games were over, Nick stayed on at OCO’88 helping with the “postmortem” of the games,  (something that is done automatically) and helped disassemble what was OCO’88.  He and others helped with the next Olympics, which was in Seoul Korea, by passing along their knowledge and findings that they obtained during their years at OCO’88. 

After the games Nick was hired by Nortel, which was one of the sponsors of the Calgary games. This meant a move to Belleville Ontario, but not before Nick was loaned out to the Albertville France for their 1992 winter games.  He was there for a few months and then started his new job in Belleville. 

Meet Bob Mansbridge (Director of International Marketing).  Thank you Bob for your help in describing Nick’s next adventure (see below) and for allowing him to take all those trips away from Belleville. They helped him to keep his sanity as Belleville was not exactly where Nick wanted to be.  Bob became another mentor to Nick as well as becoming a good friend.

Nick was a tremendous asset to Nortel, as his technical expertise in all elements of networking gave the company a unique competitive edge. While working in Belleville he worked with many customers who were looking to boost the capabilities of their own private networks. He was tireless in seeking out solutions for university, hospital and government networks. This involved endless meetings with the service providers (e.g. Bell), which I know caused Nick to pull his hair out often. (sic probable cause of premature baldness). He was an unassuming man, preferring to be out of the limelight, but his talents undoubtedly increased revenues for Nortel. As Nortel put in a bid to build the network for the 1988 Calgary Olympics, they included seconding Nick to the program. This I know was a key reason we won the bid.

Bob Mansbridge, Director of International Marketing

From Judy – August 1991 to August 5, 1996

So one day while in Belleville, Nick got a phone call from Nortel in Atlanta, Georgia.  Atlanta had won the 1996 Olympic Summer Games and Nortel thought that they would like to be a sponsor and wanted to talk with Nick.  Nick later found out that Los Angeles which held the 1984 Summer Olympics, wanted to be paid to come to Atlanta to speak about being a sponsor, so Nick was their default, as it cost them nothing to have Nick fly down.  Nick debated about going to Atlanta but since it was an excuse to get away from Belleville, and a way to help Nortel he went.  He did his presentation and before coming home, made it clear that if Nortel did become a sponsor, that he wanted the job and Nortel in Atlanta would have to not only pay for the move, but also help his family get their green cards!

Meet Judy Quick, Program Director for the Atlanta Olympic Games.  Judy was and is a true southern lady and taught us the ways and traditions of the south which were invaluable.  She worked very closely with Nick and has provided great insight to Nick’s next journey while working for ACOG.  Thank you Judy for all that you did for Nick and for being such a wonderful friend.

Nick Lundhild, Director of Technical Services,  Atlanta Committee for the 1996 Olympic Games (ACOG)

In the Preface of the Official Report of the Centennial Olympic Games (1997), Ginger Watkins, Executive Vice President and Report Editor, writes:

“These Centennial Olympic Games were for us, first and foremost, about people – the thousands who collaborated for years in developing the plans; the 53,540 volunteers who welcomed and worked with the organizing committee and in their communities for years preceding the mission; and the 197 nations and their dedicated athletes who gave to 5 million spectators and the worldwide audience of 3.5 billion television viewers spectacular performances.”

Nick Lundhild played an essential role to provide the multitude of technical services and leadership “for years” to ensure this positive experience for all constituencies.

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) accepted Atlanta’s bid in September, 1990.

A skeleton technology team began in ACOG offices in 1991 with a Director of Information Systems Services (Bob Neal) and a Director of Technical Services (Nick Lundhild) who reported to the Chief Operating Officer (A.D. Frazier).  As the years progressed, staff and sponsor loaned executives joined the technology team.    In 1995, a layer of bureaucratic management was added, but the core technology team of professionals managed and implemented to perfection the complex web of computer and non-computer services to support the Games.  

One title and a bit of explanation describe the WHAT of Nick Lundhild’s responsibility for the Centennial Olympic Games.   The HOW is more memorable because the HOW enabled the amazing success of that responsibility.

THE WHAT:

Nick, Director of Technical Services, and Bob Neal, Director Information Systems Services, oversaw the entire planning and implementation of all technology services for the Centennial Olympic Games.

Bob managed the IBM computer services and applications (i.e. ticketing, accreditation, results, etc).

Nick managed all non-computer related technology – EVERYTHING ELSE!  His portfolio included telecommunications networks, telephone systems, cable access television (CATV), radio/pager systems, security/access control systems, timing/ scoring systems, results printing.   His technology sponsors included AT&T, BellSouth, Kodak, Motorola, Panasonic, Scientific Atlanta, Sensormatic, Swatch, and Xerox.

In addition to providing technology for the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta and in venues throughout the South, Nick’s team of technical services professionals supported events in the years leading up to the Games.   The following quote is paraphrased from the Official Report (p. 457):

“From the Fall of 1992 until the Games in 1996, ACOG hosted a series of events and meetings that required technical support.   The smaller events, typically workshops, required telephones, pagers, cell phones, facsimile machines, small copiers, and workstations with printers.  The larger meetings, typically to support the IOC, the NOC’s (National Olympic Committees), the IF’s (International Federations), and the AOB (Atlanta Olympic Broadcasting Center), required substantial technology for meeting rooms and offices.   Technology also supported 25 sporting events from the Spring of 1995 to the Spring of 1996, where Information Systems and other technology were tested.”

THE HOW:

Nick brought in-depth experience from his technology planning of the Calgary Games and from his professional experience at Northern Telecom (Nortel).  He created a comprehensive database of venues, required technology, and cost estimates to establish a working budget for the Atlanta Games project.   The technology budget comprised almost 25% of the total planning budget for the Centennial Olympic Games. 

Nick’s leadership skills encouraged staff to be their best.  With grace and humor he managed a diverse team of ACOG employees, sponsor loaned executives, and representatives of future Olympic Games (Nagano and Sydney). 

Nick’s over-riding principle for his team was ATTITUDE.  Technical skills were important, but a person’s attitude towards the team and the project made all the difference.

Nick brought unique creativity to the typically dry, analytical, engineering discipline of technology.  He found ways to make the complicated look understandable.  He chose to convey all systems and technology through an artistic use of PowerPoint presentations.  He even used humor in his PowerPoint diagrams to portray the complexity of technology interdependencies for the Olympic Games.    

Nick valued continual learning and improvement.   He and his teams visited the Barcelona and Lillehammer Olympic Games and met with the technology teams there. They brought back lessons learned which were incorporated into the Atlanta Games planning. 

Nick captured the details of five years of planning and implementation in the Final Report of the Centennial Olympic Games.

After the Games ended, Nick shared wisdom with the Nagano NTT (Japanese Telecom Company) team for their 1998 Olympic Winter Games in Japan.  

Being a part of an intense, complex, project planning event such as the Olympics is exhausting and incredibly rewarding.  It requires focus, discipline, flexibility, and professional competency.  The rewards of success carry emotions for a while, but the phenomenon of “Post Olympic Depression” is real. The remedy is to find quickly other outlets for purpose and meaning.   

Nick wisely chose to use his talents not only to advise other Olympic Games and international projects, but also locally to work with the City of Atlanta and later to volunteer with the Clark Howard Radio Program to address consumer concerns.  

Nick was valued as an extremely knowledgeable, competent leader who contributed quietly and behind the scenes to the profound success of the Centennial Olympic Games.

Judy Quick, Program Director for the Atlanta Olympic games;

From Judy – August 1996 to the summer of 2001

Once the Atlanta games were over, Nick stayed on at ACOG helping with the “postmortem” of the games and as before, helped disassemble what was ACOG.  He and others helped share their valuable insights with the next Olympic committee, which was in Nagano which hosted the 1998 Winter Games.

Nick remained with Nortel and continued to work in technology and was loaned out to two other Olympics which include Sydney 2000 summer games as well as Salt Lake City 2002 winter games.

In 2001 the unthinkable happened and with the economic downturn in Atlanta, at the ripe old age of 55, Nick was let go from Nortel. Hundreds of other professionals in all areas of work found themselves in the same demise and with greying hair, excellent resumes work was not to be found. 

So Nick helped friends who were trying to start up new businesses and volunteered at the Clark Howard Radio consumer advocate program in Atlanta. 

He eventually was hired by the city of Atlanta to work in their technology department.  It was a good fit for him but his morals and ethics couldn’t let him remain there, so he quit, on his own terms, and never looked back.

Nick had wonderful careers that challenged his mind and that took him all over the world.  He loved what he did in his different jobs which allowed him to continue to grow and to learn. He had such a thirst for knowledge and loved the challenge that each job offered him.   He enjoyed helping others and passing along what life had taught him. 

I want to thank John, Bob and Judy for giving Nick what he needed the most, and that was the challenge of learning and for their friendship.  Thank you for being so generous to Nick and for helping  me with this mission.  I couldn’t have done it without you.  I am so grateful.

I also want to thank the RMC class of 69.  We both always felt that the 69 class was so very, very special and stood out from the other years.  You all helped Nick become the man he became and I thank you for that and for this opportunity in sharing “Nick’s adventures”.

Judy Lundhild