Remembering Marshall Lager

We lost Marshall Lager, an analyst, thought leader, influencer, writer, and former CRM magazine columnist, Feb. 12. He was only 53.

His sudden passing was a shock to the entire CRM community.  And while the loss is profound and still fresh in our memories, so are the many happy moments and experiences Marshall left us with over the course of his roughly two decades of writing and talking about CRM, customer experience, customer engagement, and anything else that came to his sharp-but-funny mind.

Read Marshall's obituray here.

Read Paul Greenberg's post on his rememberances of Marshall at here

Paul Greenberg and I invited a number of folks to join us on our most recent "CRM Playaz episode" to share their memories and experiences of Marshall.  Below is a short clip of the following folks who joined us:

• Dorrie Rosenstein (Marshall's cousin);
• Stefani Sanatar (Marshall's cousin);
• David Myron (Marshall's former colleague at CRM Magazine and current industry analyst);
• Rebecca Wettemann (principal analyst and CEO of Valoir);
• Jon Reed - co-founder of diginomica;
• Ralf Korb - CRM/CX analyst and Marshall's cohost on CRM Konvos; and
• Bob Fernekees - vice president and group publisher of CRM magazine.

Edited transcript

Dorrie Rosenstein: My two favorite memories. This won't be new to Paul and Brant, but Marshall was two years younger than me, and we were driving in the car. Our parents were up front driving. We're in the back with a bunch of us cousins. Marshall is three and a half and he was just like talking to himself.

And we were all just kind of looking at him like, what is he saying? And it turns out he was reading every billboard that we passed. He completely showed up his older cousins, and we pretty much knew where we stood from then on.  He was the brain of the family. He was also so much like his father: warm, soft spoken, big personality and good people.

Stefani Sanatar: We really enjoyed a lot of laughter. Marshall is hysterical, as you guys know. And I'm glad that everyone recognizes that about him because he really is. His quips, you know, the things that come out of his mouth sometimes you just can't believe, you know, you hear it and you, you know, react to it, you know, five minutes later as if you're like, wait, he didn't just tell you that, right?

That's super enjoyable. And I'm going to miss that. I'll be honest with you, I really kind of miss that. I know Dorrie, you are too.

Brent Leary: Where did he get that sarcastic sense of humor. Where did that come from?

Dorrie Rosenstein: I think his dad.

Stefani Sanatar: Yeah, I would have to say yes. Yeah. Uncle Harold.

Brent Leary: What are some of the things that maybe we didn't know about him that you think is important for us to know?

Dorrie Rosenstein: It's the ups and downs that for as hard as he had it, as much loss as he had, he was a mensch. He had a good attitude, even though he would quip like he didn't. You know what I'm talking about; the irreverence.

But I honestly can't personally think of anything that you guys aren't. You got it. The warmth, the humor, the sass.

Paul Greenberg: For those of you who don't know, David Myron was the editor-in-chief of CRM magazine for years and was Marshall's actual employer for years. But they were also very close friends. So here's what he, wrote: 

David Myron: I recall interviewing Marshall 20 years ago for an open editorial position at CRM magazine. During the interview, I asked if there's any kind of content you would prefer to write, what would it be? Marshall replied, humor writing. After Marshall joined the team, the editors and I quickly realized how funny and witty he was.

So I asked Marshall if he was serious about writing a humor column. He was, and "Pint of View" was born. The whole idea behind his "Pint of View" column was that it should be a lighthearted look at all things CRM. We wanted it to be relaxed and funny, almost like having a drink with Marshall as he muses and jokes about CRM-related topics.

And he really delivered. Not only was Marshall a great writer, he was a great comedic writer, and he was so funny. We were so fortunate to be able to laugh along with him. If there's one thing I'd like to remember about Marshall it's that we should never lose sight of the lighter side of life, and we should always strive to keep happiness and humor in our hearts.

Rebecca Wetteman: I remember the first time I met Marshall was probably about 20 years ago at Carnegie Hall at one of those Salesforce benefit concerts. Remember when they did those? And it was the first time, you know, this was like presume era. So was the first time I had met him in person. And, we started chatting and we were talking, of course, CRM stuff.

And then he delivered one of those Marshall zingers. You know, any of that little twinkle in its eye. And I was like, That's really what he just said. And I remember exactly what the words were. But the thing was, he always had that twinkle because there was always a comment.

Jon Reed: Marshall wasn't afflicted with this disease of punditry that so many of us have, including myself, that really allowed him to just be an exceptional listener when he was in the fabric of things.

When you lose people like that, you lose something that connects everyone and you feel that hole. It's just not an easy thing to fix. But at the same time, you also have these memories rushing in because the degree of the loss is proportional to the degree of the joy and the fun that you had with this exceptional person.

And we should not forget that he picked his moments and he knew his shit. And just because he was a great listener, and by the way I think we could all learn from him there, he knew how to pick his spots too.

Ralf Korb: What made Marshall special for me is that he took over the role of being in the background, he was not the person to jump on the stage or do table dances. That was not the typical Marshall I know.

Marshall was the shy background listener, observer, and then, shaboom! There it was. If Marshall starts talking, you better listen because there is something coming around the corner. And then he stepped back again and waited for the next opportunity. Never, ever was something obsolete. It was always spot on, and it was marvelous.

Paul Greenberg: I remember when CRM Magazine was more of the paper magazine. It was first thing I would do. Every time I'd open it would turn to the last page. I wanted to read Marshall's column first.

The one thing I've always appreciated about Marshall was you heard his voice in his writing. His voice is right there. It's Marshall.

You could literally have your eyes shut and it would be anonymous. And to somebody. And if you knew Marshall and you read and somebody read that to you, you know, Marshall wrote it.

Brent Leary: ChatGPT could not do Marshall.

Paul Greenberg: No.

Bob Fernekees: I remember Marshall just from day to day, every single morning, every single day. Work really hard. We had some epic Christmas parties and other parties that usually involved playing pool, bowling, darts, all the major sports that you can do any of.

He was just a really great guy. And the funniest story is I didn't know what his column was going to be called. And I looked at it and Pint of View. And I still can remember… Pint of View…. Marshall Lager... I get it.

Marshall was like a really good ingredient to any group of people.