Alan David Goldman (1937–1999) was the founder of the

Sage Group The Sage Group plc, commonly known as Sage, is a British multinational enterprise software company based in North Tyneside, England. As of 2017, it is the UK's second largest technology company, the world's third-largest supplier of enterpri ...

, the United Kingdom's largest software business.

Career

Born in

Sunderland Sunderland () is a port city in Tyne and Wear, England. It is the City of Sunderland's administrative centre and in the Historic counties of England, historic county of County of Durham, Durham. The city is from Newcastle-upon-Tyne and is on t ...

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 miner ...

, an undergraduate at

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

, and Paul Muller, an American consultant, he established

Sage Sage or SAGE may refer to: Plants * ''Salvia officinalis'', common sage, a small evergreen subshrub used as a culinary herb ** Lamiaceae, a family of flowering plants commonly known as the mint or deadnettle or sage family ** ''Salvia'', a large ...

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

Amstrad Amstrad was a British electronics company, founded in 1968 by Alan Sugar at the age of 21. The name is a contraction of Alan Michael Sugar Trading. It was first listed on the London Stock Exchange in April 1980. During the late 1980s, Amstrad ...

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 contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...

in 1992. In 1993 Goldman was awarded an Honorary Doctorate of Business Administration (DBA) from

Sunderland University , mottoeng = Sweetly absorbing knowledge , established = 1901 - Sunderland Technical College1969 - Sunderland Polytechnic1992 - University of Sunderland (gained university status) , staff = , chancellor = Emeli ...

. Goldman retired as Sage chief executive in 1994 and as chairman in 1997. Goldman was appointed non-executive chairman of

BATM Advanced Communications BATM Advanced Communications Ltd. (Baras Advanced Technologies Marom) is a technology company principally engaged in development, production and marketing of data and telecommunication products in the field of local and wide area networks, as well ...

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 led by Prime Minister John Major was defeated in a landslide by the Labour Party led by Tony Blair, achieving a 179 seat majority. Th ...

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,

and the

Sage Gateshead Sage Gateshead is a concert venue and musical education centre in Gateshead on the south side of the River Tyne in North East England. Opened in 2004 and occupied by North Music Trust it is part of the Gateshead Quays development which incl ...

. 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