RIP, JACK KILLION, WHO TAUGHT TECH ENTREPRENEURS HOW TO NETWORK
November 16, 2021 Esther Surden 2 News, NJ Tech People, Opinion,
NJTechWeekly.com learned late last week that Jack Killion, a New Jersey native, who started out his career with a tech company and mentored and advised tech entrepreneurs and companies during his long and varied career, had passed away. When I first met Jack, he was with Probe Research, which put out a monthly magazine called “Wireless for the Corporate User.” He was my editor and I was a contributing editor there. We reconnected many years later after I started NJ Tech Weekly. During his long career, he became a founder and general partner in Eagle Rock Diversified Fund.
In 2012, he and a partner launched Bluestone + Killion, a training firm that teaches others how to network and develop significant relations that will accelerate their careers, increase their value to their employers and enrich their personal and family lives. Killion also educated and mentored entrepreneurs through his company Street Smart Entrepreneurs. My last conversation on LinkedIn with Jack was this year about his joining VMT, The Venture Mentoring Team, a non-profit organization that helps startups with essential knowledge such as how to create a pitch deck.
Jack’s book, “Network: All the Time, Everywhere, With Everybody: Master Your Life & Career,” helped a lot of people figure out how to implement a networking strategy. I interviewed Jack about his book here. During that interview he shared his philosophy of networking:
“Forget about what you can get from networking. Concentrate on what you can contribute to others. I equate successful networking to rock climbing. When you meet people, you try to find finger holds. Once you find finger holds where you have some areas of common interest, dig in and try to figure out how to help someone’s personal or professional life. “
I thought that the best way to honor Jack was to repost the last article he wrote for NJ Tech Weekly, an opinion piece about the pandemic. As always, Jack was an optimist who believed companies could recover from the 2020 lockdowns. The piece was written in April of 2020.
Jack died on November 5, 2021.