This memorial website was created in memory of our loved one, Ian McGovern, 69 years old , born on the 15th of April 1949.
He passed away after a months-long battle with lung and brain cancer on the 9th of January 2019, leaving behind his wife Veronica, and son Dominic.
During his life he touched many lives and inspired goodness in those who knew him.
We will carry the memory of him forever in our hearts.
Tributes
Leave a tributeYour student,
Julie
It was never the same again for me.
He was different from other prof. He was wise, knowledgeable, seen-it-all and yet humble. Critical on subject matters and yet deeply caring in subtle ways. He has many good qualities both as a professor and a person. One semester was too short a time to get to know such a great man.
I’m grateful to have been your student and you’ll always be remembered.
https://www.cnet.com/culture/hereafter-ai-lets-you-talk-with-your-dead-loved-ones-through-a-chatbot/
Perhaps you may be rolling your eyes at the sheer ridiculousness of this all (not sure), but we all miss you. Very, very much.
He left such a lasting impression that I tried to Google his whereabouts and ended up here, 3 years too late for his memorial. Tears well up in my eyes as I type this to remember a selfless, inspirational educator and mentor.
- Class of 2005
I will never forget this special day and Good Friday together, and I re-live the time that I made you your favourite carrot cake. It wasn't good but you said it was "the best cake". That was just you. We always stayed at home on this special day. You never asked for anything more.
I do miss you on this special day.
I wonder if you can hear me.
Happy Birthday Ian.
Was clearing my gmail today when I chanced upon an email sent to his GMS groups at the end of 2010. It began with "Hi there, I thought I'd send out this email to let you all know that I'm still alive." and made me wonder how he was doing now. Gutted to know that he has passed on and I'll never randomly receive such an email again, but his memory lives on.
Thank you for everything Prof.
Today you would have been 72 years old.
You were taken from us before you turned 70, but what a life you had. I know you wanted to do other things before you went, and I'm sure you would have done more, but I think you forgot what you'd already done. Some of the things you experienced in your life... I can only imagine what they were like. You achieved things in your 69 years that others couldn't in a hundred. You were far more incredible a man than you'd ever give yourself credit for.
I wish I'd spent more time with you when I was able. I suppose regret is unavoidable for both of us.
Things have changed quite a bit since you left us. Part of me is glad you didn't live to see this pandemic. Another part of me thinks this whole thing would probably be better with you around. I think if you were still here, I would feel more concerned for your wellbeing, yet simultaneously more relaxed because I know you would be able to keep people safe, and keep things under control.
I wish I could talk to you again, even if it were just over the phone. I would have really appreciated your help over these past couple of years.
I can often imagine what your responses might be to various topics - they wouldn't always be great responses, and you wouldn't always necessarily understand.
But you would listen, and you would help. You would try to push me in the right direction, as you've always done.
I haven't cried about you in months and months now, but of course now I'm writing this to you, waterworks.
I miss the advice I know you'd give me - I confess sometimes I become incredibly envious of friends who are still able to receive advice from their respective fathers.
But I also just wish you could see how we are now.
I wish you could see how strong Mum's being. How hard she's worked since you've been gone. How she still soldiers on, despite everything. She's unstoppable.
She also misses you dearly.
I wish I could discuss with you the things I've learned, even in the short time you've been gone; about myself, about people in general, about... things. Life.
I wish I could teach you about the stuff we didn't realise was wrong, that I've now come to understand, and I know you would too.
I wish you could meet my girlfriend. I think you would have really liked her, for a plethora of reasons.
I wish you could meet my cats, even though I know you don't care for cats. You'd see how different they are to what you'd expect. You'd come around.
Really, I wish you could meet me, who I am now. I wish you could see who I'm becoming, the direction my life is taking.
I like to think you'd be able to relax a bit about my wellbeing if you could see me now.
I can only hope you'd be proud.
I'm terrified of forgetting you. I can forget so many things, I don't want you to be one of them.
I get the impression some people thought I would step into your shoes somehow. But I didn't. I am not you. I can never be you, nor do I want to be. We are different people.
But every so often, I'm reminded that there's still so much of you in me. I hope I never let that go.
I want you to know that as I make my way through each day, I try to take the values and wisdom you instilled in me and apply them to my life. I extrapolate them, emphasise them, pass them on to others as best I can.
I'm certain that I'm not the only person who does the same, after having you in their life. I'm sure almost every one of your countless students over the years is doing just that, in some shape or form.
I like to think that in that way, you might continue to live on. Not perfectly preserved as how you once were, but in how we think, how we feel, how we act.
Thank you for giving us that.
Happy Birthday, Dad. I miss you so much.
Definitely has left an impression on all his students, as I can attest to one of his many memorable lessons. NTU may have changed significantly since I left, but the professors who remain are what gives the place the human touch. As no one exemplifies that more than Prof Ian.
Like every great teacher Ian touched the lives of his students, and from the comments on this page and during the memorial it is clear that Ian had a deep and long lasting impact on the lives of his students.
No better testimonial to the man and to the teacher
Thoughts with Veronica and Dominic
I would always remember my team's presentation on choosing Bahrain for exporting where he then commented that Bahrain was having internal war at the moment.
He has taught us critical thinking, to really think through the numbers that we are proposing and not just because it looks nice. Despite his humourous sharing on his life and his world view, he also taught us principles such as punctuality. I still remember congratulating him for being the teacher of the year back in 2013 and he replied immediately. He was also very willing to offer his time to share with me when he got to know that I am running my own business.
Prof Ian, I will always miss you for being dedicated and going all out for us. You are forever missed by us all. Be rest assured, we will do you proud by succeeding in our various fields.
To Mrs McGovern and Dominic:
I am so sorry for your loss.
Dr Ian McGovern was my favourite NTU lecturer back in 1994. In fact, he inspired me to take marketing as my specialisation. In my final year, he was my Final-Year Project supervisor who encouraged me and my team mates to take on a project beyond Singapore. Eventually, we received a distinction under his guidance for the topic of eco-tourism in one of the Riau Islands.
In that year of working with Dr McGovern, I had learnt on many occasions how proud and happy he was of his family.
Mrs McGovern: This may not be of much significance now but in 1997, that Valentine's Day, Dr McGovern asked me to locate the phone number of Pete's Place in Grand Hyatt as he wanted to take you there for dinner. He told me that you like/would like that place. This was before Google and hence phone numbers were not so readily available. I offered to help him reserve the table but in the end (if my memory serves me right) it was all fully booked and Dr McGovern was very disappointed.
The first few years post graduation were tough for me and I visited Dr McGovern once on campus. Perhaps sensing that I was not having an easy time with my career, he offered to give me a car ride to Boon Lay MRT station. Before we drove off, he called home and I remember him speaking to a very young Dominic and told him that he was giving a former student a ride. After the call, he turned around and explained to me that he made it a point to call the household every time he gave female students a car ride so that Mrs McGovern would be well informed.
He also shared with me the different parenting styles between him and Mrs McGovern. He said that he told Dominic that he did not have to do anything he was asked to unless the parents should provide a logical explanation. He said Mrs McGovern could not agree as Dominic was just a child and should learn to obey parents' instructions. That was etched in my mind as Dr McGovern's style of parenting was a totally different one from my own Asian family upbringing where explanation was never a requirement. Now, as a parent, I made it a point to explain the rationale of my instructions to my children.
These little encounters with Dr McGovern had taught me basic values of love and respect.
Please take care Mrs McGovern and Dominic.
Yours sincerely
Sherlene
We miss you x
You would have been 70 today.
I still often forget you're gone - just last night I dreamt that you were with us, just the same as you were before you got sick.
You were laughing and joking and giving me advice.
I could really use some of that advice now. It's been difficult since you've been gone.
I miss you a lot. We all do.
I love you, always.
Happy birthday, Dad.
Ian, I thank you for giving me Dom, a treasured and lifelong friend. He once told me that you would listen to my song "A Thought Cascades" in the car, and I dedicate that song to you. Rest In Peace.
May Ian sleep in peace. Heartfelt sympathy to you and Dominic on the demise of a beloved husband and a beloved father respectively. He is now in a better place where there is no more suffering but only serenity and joy. We will miss Ian who.is like a brother, loving and kind. Always ready to share his knowledge and experience to help us be more aware of what is happening. Though he has left us, his memory lives on, as a loving and generous person everready to give a helping hand. Goodbye Ian..
Sharing your grief.
Irene & Adrian Majaham
We would travel to London with him and stay at his flat. This, I recall, was around the time he'd not long met Veronica, his wife, who he would chat to us about, enthusiastically.
We were eventually introduced to Veronica. A lovely and interesting lady. We had only ever really spoke with people from Manchester!!.
Ian introduced us to Chinese food. We would visit restaurants in London and we could order whatever we wanted. A small thing to some people, but this was new and amazing for us. Chopsticks? Oh yes, he taught us how to use those!! Manchester lads using chopsticks. We were now cultured!!
Ian was always fun to be around. I have fond, personal memories that i will cherish forever.
When I became aware of Ians' illness, i spoke with my mother (Jeanette, Ian's sister), it broke our hearts. We were so far away.
Having today watched the clip of Dominic, speaking about his father, I telephoned my mother. How much he is like Ian, I said. His mannerisms and the way he looks and speaks, i was amazed.
Dominic is a credit to Ian and Veronica. A gentleman. Ian could not have wished for better, the way Dominic has turned out. A very proud father!
I am a better person, for knowing Ian, uncle Ian.
I will miss him.
My deepest condolences and prayers to your family.
Dear Prof Ian, wherever you are resting, may you be at peace.
I enjoyed your lessons a lot and yours was perhaps the only one I paid attention to in NBS. I enjoyed it so much that i subsequently sought a job in IE and u helped make the necessary connections and recommendations. Later on, i went to India to work and i still remembered your advice and the lessons you gave. You played a very defining role in my career. Thanks for the guidance and your frank, witty humour and have for setting the bar very high for all of us.
His passing felt surreal; we were just saying to catch up. Thanks for being Prof.
& honestly, I don’t understand why is Bangkok Jam one of the better Thai food in Sg.
//When it’s over, I want to say: all my life I was a bride married to amazement.
-I was the bridegroom, taking the world into my arms.
When it’s over, I don’t want to wonder if I have made of my life something particular, and real. I don’t want to find myself sighing and frightened, or full of argument.
I don’t want to end up simply having visited this world.
We crossed path in 2014 when I was introduced to a whole new style of learning thanks to him. As a Finance student who spent most of my time calculating the value of a merger or analysing methods to maximise shareholders' value, it was not easy to adapt to his teaching style.
He posted numerous challenging questions each lesson. His notes were not comprehensive at all (well, you really had to think through and pen down your own notes along the way). Tough love, I would say. But that was what I love. Challenges. I still remember our project was about whether we should build NBS in Ho Chi Minh City. We prepared thoroughly for the QnA portion, even though we knew that it would never be enough. There was no way to smoke him through.
"Every year there are only four or five students I would recommend unreservedly, and this year Eunice is one of those students." As I reread his words for my testimonial, I am heartened that I made an impact on him as how he had made an impact in my life. I had the honour to meet him for lunch separately before I graduated. After graduation, I met him again and updated him about the happenings in my life. I did not initiate a meetup for roughly 2 years before I contacted him. His words to me were "wow, what a nice surprise. i thought i'd lost you forever." The last I saw him was April last year and we said we would catch up every year from then. But I guess I would never have this chance again.
Thank you for being a part of my memories, Prof Ian.
"And in the end, it's not the years in your life that count. It's the life in your years." - Abraham Lincoln
And I am pretty sure you will agree with me on that.
Many things have changed at NBS, but Ian was part of a team then who made a difference to my life, and I believe several others too.
May your legacy live on through your loved ones, friends and lives that you have impacted in more than two decades in Singapore.
I also enjoy chatting football with him and remember him as a passionate Man City fan who has been behind the team even during the not so glorious days.
Prof Ian will be deeply missed and is a great lost to the students of the faculty.
By some divine intervention, I got selected (after someone "dropped out") to go to Hong Kong on a 8-week internship with Taipan Bread & Cakes and subsequently signed on and stayed for 2.5 years. The stint allowed me to be adaptable working in different countries and cultures, which was useful when I took up a one-year posting to Vietnam years later with Mediacorp.
Now that I'm teaching adjunct at the polytechnics, I am reminded on the impact that I can have on my students... just like how Prof Ian had impacted me. It is a privilege that must be handled with care and I hope I am able to live up to Prof Ian's standards.
Rest in peace, Prof Ian.
May you rest in peace.
How well I remember the special times, as we were raised side by side, sharing good times, sharing bad.
Words cannot express how much you will be missed. Although we were far away in distance, you were never far away in our thoughts.
We are all extremely proud of your achievements and Dominic who will follow in your footsteps.
It's a comfort knowing you're now back with Mum and Dad.
Until we meet again Ian, I feel that you'll always be with me.
Love your Baby sister Jeanette and Family xxxx
Leave a Tribute
Your student,
Julie
It was never the same again for me.
Please be patient.
Please be patient.
Please be patient.
Please be patient.
.
8
Britain is no longer great!
Those very words rang out from Prof Ian McGovern during one of his GMS classes that I cherished and feared as a student in the Class of 2002.
While our paths never crossed again after graduation, he inspired me to leave the creature comforts of Singapore to work overseas for a period of time, where I learnt more than I ever learnt in the classroom.
Prof, Britain may not be great anymore perhaps because you're no longer around.
May you have a good rebirth and thanks for being a teacher in every sense.