Gary Frisch (22 January 1969 – 10 February 2007) was co-founder of the
Gaydar website. He was one of the UK's leading
gay businessmen.
Early life
Frisch was born in Johannesburg
South Africa. His father, Eric, was an entrepreneur, and his mother, Rhona, was a bookkeeper. He was educated at Boksburg High School and studied
computer science at the
University of the Witwatersrand in
Johannesburg while working for
De Beers
De Beers Group is an international corporation that specializes in diamond mining, diamond exploitation, diamond retail, diamond trading and industrial diamond manufacturing sectors. The company is active in open-pit, large-scale alluvial and c ...
'
industrial diamond
Diamond is a solid form of the element carbon with its atoms arranged in a crystal structure called diamond cubic. Another solid form of carbon known as graphite is the chemically stable form of carbon at room temperature and pressure, b ...
division.
Career
After graduation, he set up a
computer software company, Frisoft Software, which he sold to ''Q Data'' (now named ''Business Connection'') in 1994. He was a technical director with Q Data until he left South Africa in 1997.
He moved to the
UK in 1997 with his partner,
Henry Badenhorst
Henry Badenhorst (c. 1966 – 11 November 2017) was the co-founder of the Gaydar Radio
GaydarRadio is a podcast on Mixcloud streaming service, which used to be a British digital radio station for gay men, lesbians and gay friendly people, o ...
, to set up QSoft Consulting, an information technology consultancy firm. After a friend complained that he was too busy to look for a new boyfriend, they launched the
Gaydar internet dating website in November 1999 from their home in
Twickenham. The website rapidly became very popular and by 2007, Gaydar had nearly 4 million users in 23 countries. The Gaydar brand expanded into other areas: Frisch was chairman of GaydarRadio, a digital radio station founded in 2002.
Badenhorst and Frisch's personal partnership broke up in 2006, although they remained business partners.
Death
Frisch was found dead below the window of his eighth-floor flat in
Wandsworth,
South London
South London is the southern part of London, England, south of the River Thames. The region consists of the Districts of England, boroughs, in whole or in part, of London Borough of Bexley, Bexley, London Borough of Bromley, Bromley, London Borou ...
. A verdict of misadventure was recorded by Paul Knapman, the coroner at the inquest. A pathologist, Peter Wilkins, said raised levels of
ketamine were found in Frisch's blood and liver.
References
External links
Gaydar founder death fall probed BBC News, 12 February 2007
Founder of biggest online dating agency dies in mystery fall ''
The Independent'', 13 February 2007
Obituary ''
The Daily Telegraph'', 13 February 2007
Obituary ''
The Times'', 14 February 2007
Obituary ''
The Guardian'', 21 February 2007
1969 births
2007 deaths
British LGBT businesspeople
British gay men
South African gay men
South African emigrants to the United Kingdom
South African LGBT businesspeople
Gay businessmen
Accidental deaths in England
Accidental deaths from falls
Drug-related deaths in England
20th-century British LGBT people
21st-century British LGBT people
20th-century South African LGBT people
21st-century South African LGBT people
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