It is with an extremely heavy heart that I announce the passing of my dad Ünver "Jimmy" Rüstem, AKA The Battery Guru/Expert.
Dad finally succumbed to that wretched disease last Friday at UCH surrounded by myself, my mum and my younger brother. He was 75.
As many of you know, Jimmy started re-celling and repairing ebike batteries sometime in the early to mid-'10s, right up until the beginning of this year before he went to Cyprus for his prostate cancer treatment. Unfortunately on the day he was supposed to have his second nuclear treatment sometime in June, his blood test came back showing one of his kidneys was immanently failing. Long story short, following numerous bouts of dialysis, dad had to have a permanent nephrostomy tube fitted to his working kidney and sadly this signalled the beginning of the end; from that day on he was permanently in acute pain, lost his appetite (he was never a good eater anyway) and subsequently started to lose weight.
With the ensuing weight loss he could no longer be treated (he had Stage 4 prostate cancer before going to Cyprus anyway) and he then returned to the UK in September, barely able to walk.
It's been absolutely crushing witnessing the slow, tortured demise of a man who was so full of life and still had so much to give.
Jimmy LOVED his work - he was grounded in electronics since his youth, and I actually believe he had undiagnosed Asperger's/autism: he could work for hours on a PCB - in a state of complete, uninterrupted hyper-focus - no food, no drink. He would barely eat unless I, my uncle or my aunt fed him. When he was on his own (Covid, weekends), God only knows what little sustenance he got by on. For him, it was a case of "man against machine". He had amazingly steady hands and could work under a microscope for long periods of time.
That technical gene must have skipped a generation with my brother and I - the cursory knowledge of batteries I accumulated over the years working with dad was purely from listening to the countless hours of phone calls, whereby he'd deliver one of his infamously lengthy "tech lectures" to the poor, unsuspecting sod on the other end!
Sadly, I never had the gift or passion for electronics that Jimmy had - he didn't have the patience to teach me and I didn't have the disposition nor constitution to be brow-beaten into learning.
But dad was old school - he believed he was part of a dying breed (admittedly not the best turn of phrase under the circumstances); he resented the cynical, modern-day trend of disposing of a part just to sell a whole new part. Instead, he believed in diagnosing the fault down to component level and fixing it, so the end user didn't have to spend their hard-earned unnecessarily. Oftentimes he said he was giving back to the community and was proud of his moral stance and business ethics.
I loved the rapport he built up with so many customers over the years, and the reverence in which he was held. It filled - and still fills me - with immense pride. It was something I became accustomed to as far back as my childhood when dad had a TV/VCR repair shop, then a satellite installation business (where he'd also repair Sky digiboxes) and then BGA re-working where he trained numerous High-Tech Police Forensic Crime Units, who would travel from far and wide. Whatever he turned his hand to, he did it with finesse, aplomb and to the very highest level.
The business has obviously been wound down and in due course I will officially liquidate the company (I've not renewed the website domain and I've terminated the phone number and email). I'm afraid any outstanding warranties/repairs cannot be honoured as I quite simply do not have the skillset or expertise - sorry.
I've taken the liberty of uploading some shots of dad down the years. Despite being a battery expert, Jimmy was ironically an avid petrolhead: he enjoyed moderate success throughout the '70s and '80s in his native North Cyprus, where he was part of the club-level rally scene. He was too much of a workaholic to ever make a career of it, but even into his 70s he ALWAYS drove it like he stole it and was an absolute menace on the roads!
One of the saddest aspects of dad's untimely passing is that he never managed to fulfil his final, automotive wish - to compete in the WRC of Cyprus. A few years ago he purchased a Subaru Impreza WRX STi project rally car that was halfway through being converted into Group N spec before the owner ran into health issues (oh the irony) and had to sell. Dad subsequently spent thousands to complete the car but alas, it wasn't meant to be.
As for me - in a bid to change career path as I approach my mid-40s, I've been volunteering in the British Superbike Championship as a social media/PR person for the last two years. It's a tough nut to crack finding a paid position in such a cliquey industry, but I'm determined to succeed.
I would like to offer heartfelt thanks to all our customers down the years - it was a blast while it lasted."
Cem ('Jem')
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