I got an ominous phone call yesterday about a friend and mentor who passed away. After the shock wore off, I started thinking about where I met Vic Sockrider.
Around 2010, I heard about a new networking group in the Georgetown Shopping Center area and was encouraged to attend by Dave Windsor and John Dickmeyer. It was held at the Georgetown Bowl where Vic was the manager. He ran the Tuesday morning group which usually met in the activity room. He brought many business people together which directly helped all of us. He also introduced me to Mailchimp which I still use today. That’s when I discovered how much he wanted to help others improve themselves. He loved reading business and leadership books and sharing them with us at the meetings. The most interesting activity we did before the meeting was network bowling which was a great way to get to know each other.
Vic Sockrider was fun to be around. He was a great storyteller. I loved his stories and gentle spirit. My favorite story of his was when he got back from the army he got a job and his boss made him a “collector” because of his size and strong presence. I wish I could recall all the details of it.
The networking community is really going to miss Vic Sockrider. He was a humble man who touched many with his kindness. He was a member of the New Haven Chamber of Commerce and he helped find places for The Meet Me at 5 events.
The last networking thing we did together was start and run the New Haven Chamber of Commerce networking group last year with the help of Charlie, Monika and Sue of the Chamber. We ran it together in the beginning, but as time went on we saw less and less of him because of the traveling he was doing and other projects. He still managed to email a weekly meeting reminder to everyone. We still meet on Tuesdays and it won’t be the same without Vic’s smiling face or hearing about the project he was involved in, his grandkids, or getting rid of the groundhog in his backyard.