Mediterranean Shipping Company (MSC) commercial director Glenn Delve was a gregarious, witty man who loved to travel and worked diligently to help build the family-owned firm into a leading shipping line in southern Africa.
This is how Delve, 61, who died peacefully in his Umhlanga home recently, will be remembered by his colleagues, business associates and family.
Delve, who started working at the Italian-owned MSC as a sales rep in 1985, was promoted to sales manager, and later appointed national commercial director in 2006, a post he held until his death. He was responsible for the challenging role of filling cargo ships with import and export goods to and from South Africa.
Delve noted in media reports that he had enjoyed his long working relationship with MSC CEO Captain Salvatore Sarno and MSC founder Chairman Gianluigi Aponte.
His sudden death came as a shock to colleagues, friends and family.
Sarno remembers Delve fondly, not just as a colleague but as a “loyal friend” with whom he shared many fond memories.
“Having spent the last 30 years of our life together, we experienced the big changes which were going to happen in South Africa. Like me, he was always optimistic about the future of our country and was unsympathetic with those people who decided to emigrate to other countries,” Sarno told Freight News.
He quickly became my right arm, and together we planned and executed the most important projects, which has made MSC the leader of the shipping lines in southern Africa. His office reflected his personality, with hundreds of files all over that only he knew where to find for whatever purpose it was required for. It seemed to be organised chaos,” he recalled.
Sarno added that Delve always related interesting tales after a few drinks.“Glenn was a soldier when his country needed him and I enjoyed his stories about his army days, always described with his special humour and laughs, always with a thousand beers, brotherhood and a few battles,” Sarno said.
“He was a loyal and honest friend of mine as well as all our customers that he took care of by always giving them the best assistance possible for all their needs and requirements. A piece of MSC is missing. Rest in peace Glenn.”
Delve’s personal assistant Destinie Scheepers echoed Sarno’s sentiments.
“What can one say…anyone who worked with Glenn can tell you what a great man he was. His loyalty to MSC and his customers was unquestionable. Glenn will be remembered as an extremely witty, fun-loving man who lived life to the fullest. Everyone can attest to his character and his generosity. He will be sorely missed,” Scheepers said.
Freight News (then known as FTW) former account executive Lorraine Esterhuizen said she was shocked by the news.
“Glenn was absolutely a people’s person; he had so much empathy for everybody. I was involved in an incident on my way to visit Glenn for a meeting and he had so much empathy and took over the situation. He was a good soul, kind and gentle,” she said.
“He made time, even if there wasn’t time. He made time for us to go through contracts we needed to settle. He loved his job. He loved working for MSC.
“He was an amazing man in the years I dealt with him, and even after I left the company we stayed in touch,” Esterhuizen said.
Freight News features editor Liesl Venter described Delve as “old school - stylish, honest, meticulous but also straightforward”.
“He had a vast knowledge of shipping, and speaking to him was always informative - but it was his love for shipping that always stood out. He loved what he did and excelled at it. I recall the first time I interviewed him many years ago, shortly after joining the then FTW team. We were in his office in Durban and my lack of experience about the sector clearly showed, yet his gentle approach set me at ease. Glenn was a people’s person who was only too happy to share his love and knowledge of shipping. He will be greatly missed,” Venter said.
A business trip to Durban was incomplete without a lunch with Glenn, said former FTW editor Joy Orlek. And there were two guarantees – they would be long and they would be entertaining, peppered with many anecdotes about his travels.
He was one of the industry’s larger-than-life characters.
Delve is survived by his wife Heather, whom he met at MSC after he joined the firm on April 1, 1985. She was already working for the firm and went on to become an export client services manager.
She said Delve was found in his rocking chair where he died watching television on June 26.
“We have been together 30 odd years. He was a very gregarious person, a lot of our clients became our friends. He was always meticulously dressed. He had this laughter from the heart. He was a people’s person and always tried to assist,” Heather recalled.
She said Delve had a great love for the outdoors and especially for deep-sea fishing, while the couple shared a passion for travelling.
“We were always planning a trip somewhere,” she said, adding that before his death they had been planning a trip to Botswana with an MSC Geneva director.
“MSC is a very family-oriented company and they never had a problem with us working together. He was a really good and lovely man,” Heather said.
A private memorial service will be held for Delve in Umhlanga this weekend.
