Alan David Goldman (27 February 1937 – 26 October 1999) was a co-founder of the

Sage Group The Sage Group plc, commonly known as Sage, is a British Multinational corporation, multinational enterprise software company based in Newcastle upon Tyne, England. it is the UK's second largest technology company, the world's third-largest ...

, the United Kingdom's largest software business.

Career

Born in

Sunderland Sunderland () is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England. It is a port at the mouth of the River Wear on the North Sea, approximately south-east of Newcastle upon Tyne. It is the most p ...

on 27 February 1937, David Goldman trained as an accountant before moving into sales and marketing: then for 20 years he managed a small printing business known as ''Campbell Graphics''. In 1981 together with

Graham Wylie Sir Andrew William Graham Wylie (born 12 August 1959) is a British businessman and co-founder of Sage Group, the United Kingdom's largest software business. Early life Wylie was raised in the North East of England, the son of a Scottish mine ...

, an undergraduate at

Newcastle University Newcastle University (legally the University of Newcastle upon Tyne) is a public research university based in Newcastle upon Tyne, England. It has overseas campuses in Singapore and Malaysia. The university is a red brick university and a mem ...

, and Paul Muller, an American consultant, he established

Sage #REDIRECT Sage {{redirect category shell, {{R from other capitalisation{{R from ambiguous page ...

to market a financial accounting system for small businesses. In 1984, Sage launched an accounts software package for the new

Amstrad Amstrad plc was a British consumer electronics company, founded in 1968 by Alan Sugar. During the 1980s, the company was known for its Home computer, home computers beginning with the Amstrad CPC and later also the ZX Spectrum range after the ...

PCW computer. This led to a major expansion of the business. David Goldman was appointed a

Member of the Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding valuable service in a wide range of useful activities. It comprises five classes of awards across both civil and military divisions, the most senior two o ...

in 1992. In 1993 Goldman was awarded an Honorary Doctorate of Business Administration (DBA) from Sunderland University. Goldman retired as Sage chief executive in 1994 and as chairman in 1997. Goldman was appointed non-executive chairman of BATM Advanced Communications in 1996. Goldman was a significant Labour Party donor in the

1997 United Kingdom general election The 1997 United Kingdom general election was held on Thursday, 1 May 1997. The governing Conservative Party (UK), Conservative Party led by Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, Prime Minister John Major was defeated in a Landslide victory, la ...

Death

Goldman died on 26 October 1999 after a long illness. A number of endowments to North East institutions were made in Goldman's name including to

Business School, Sunderland University and the

Sage Gateshead The Glasshouse is an international centre for musical education and concerts on the Gateshead bank of Quayside in northern England. Opened in 2004 as Sage Gateshead and occupied by North Music Trust, the venue's original name honours a patron ...

. Goldman was survived by his wife Cynthia and two sons – Andrew and Daniel.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Goldman, David 1937 births 1999 deaths British technology company founders English Jews Labour Party (UK) donors 20th-century British businesspeople Sage Group people