On October 1st we very sadly and unexpectedly lost a much loved member of the Nerd Nite London team, Nick Perry.
Nick first came into our lives in 2018 as a Nerd Nite audience member and it didn’t take long for him to volunteer as a speaker.
His first presentation was inspired by one of his greatest nerd passions- town planning. The talk was flavoured, like everything he did, with a zeal and suggestions to make the world better. He spoke about why property in London is so damned expensive and what could and should be done to fix the system.
Sadly for all of us, nobody with the power to single handedly change the world attended that particular event. Thankfully, this did not deter Nick.
Nick helped us out again a year later, when we were exploring a potential partnership with Tower Hamlets library, proving himself as one of those rare and brilliant people who do the things they say they are going to do, and do them really well.
In March 2020, Nick swooped in like a guardian angel to help us make the switch to virtual events during lockdown. We knew then that he was the missing piece on the team and he has been an integral part of Nerd Nite London ever since.
It is not an exaggeration to say Nick was the beating heart of the operation. He made everything better, more organized and more nerdy.
As a host Nick was fun, informative, risque, self-deprecating and nerdily passionate about every speaker’s topics. Highlights of his own presentations include an intro to STDs and an explanation of London’s postcodes.
Nick was a tech whizz who was endlessly fixing our tech problems and making every process and system that we have a little bit more professional and a little bit more efficient.
We spent years trying to get our house in order. Nick dived in and got it done in weeks. Regardless of whether it was the tech, or the people (the rest of us) using the tech, one of Nick’s super powers was always being able to fix the problem. Another super power was always wanting to fix the problem.
Nick was the loveliest, kindest, most patient guy and his legacy goes well beyond Nerd Nite. He was an active local campaigner in Stoke Newington, a volunteer for the Stoke Newington Literary Festival, and an integral part of the Stoke Newington History Talks team.
We were lucky to have him as part of the Nerd Nite team and we will miss him greatly. We are sad that we didn’t have more time with him, to learn even half of what he knew about trains and transport, Eurovision, Stoke Newington history, AV or any of the other subjects he delved into.
We are heartbroken and our thoughts are with Nick’s husband, Andrew, and all the many people in his full, busy, varied, wonderful life who will miss him as much as we do.
