Robin L. Mercer

Robin L. Mercer, age 54, of Zephyr Hills, FL, died June 27, 2008 in Dade City, FL at a hospice house after a three year battle with cancer.

Ms. Mercer was born on June 4, 1954, in Manchester, the daughter of Robert and Esther (Oliver) Mercer. She was raised in Hooksett and graduated from Trinity High School in 1972. Robin attended the Advanced Studies Program at St. Paul's School in Concord, NH. The program was founded in 1958 for highly motivated and talented New Hampshire high school junior students. In 1976, she graduated from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, NY, and then later received her MBA in 1977. Ms. Mercer was a CPA for PricewaterhouseCoopers originally in the NJ office, but transferred to the Tampa office around 1987. Robin's career at Price Waterhouse, later to become PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), covered a period of nearly thirty years. She was a director of IT and managed many projects, led testing teams and contributed to ongoing improvements.

Among the varied responsibilities throughout Robin's career, was the introduction of a new product called Lotus Notes. She led a team of 40 people who were responsible for deployment across the United States. Robin and her team designed and changed the way PW communicated. She worked with the developers of Lotus Notes, including the products creator, Ray Ozzie, who is now CTO of Microsoft. She was also responsible for the ongoing education of the senior technical staff and leadership at PW for the Lotus Notes product. In addition, Robin was instrumental in the early adoption of the first versions of Microsoft Windows and the Office suite of applications.

Robin led and designed an initiative, within the United States PW firms, to update all of the staffs' PCs. Robin's team accomplished over 12, 000 upgrades in a four-month window. This required a massive amount of planning and coordination, as the staff could not be without their computers for more than a day. All of this, at the time, without the tools and processes that are common today, but that Robin and her team needed to build themselves.

Robin developed and coached many staff over her time at PwC. One of these staff members is now a partner in the firm; many others are directors and managing directors, all mentored by Robin to be the absolute best they could be.

She was a former member of St. Catherine's Catholic Church in Manchester. She enjoyed gardening, crafts and animals. Her kind heart led to her expertise in adoption and care of cats with diabetes. She continued to spread her generosity by educating other pet owners in need of the proper care for this medical condition.

Ms. Mercer's family includes her parents; Robert and Esther Mercer of Hooksett; two sisters; Gale Mercer of Kittery, ME and Sharon Mercer Pine of Grayson, GA; and one niece Alexandria Pine.

A graveside service will be held on Saturday, October 25, at 11:00 a.m. at the St. Joseph Cemetery in Bedford, 448 Donald St. In lieu of flowers, memorials may be made to the Manchester Animal Shelter, 490 Dunbarton Road, Manchester, NH 03102.

(FAMILY NOTICE)