Vale Tony Dick, Mo and Jo’s long-term art director: “Designer, director, writer, producer, Tone could do it with panache and flair,” says Jo

The Australian ad industry will be saddened to hear of the passing of Mo and Jo’s long-time art director Tony Dick, who died last week.

Mojo’s former CCO Doug Watson says Tony Dick was part of Mojo’s most acknowledged campaigns. Says Watson: “Tooheys, Fourex, Qantas, Meadow Lea and a number of US campaigns all wore his signature. Among them was the Australian Tourism Paul Hogan series including ‘Shrimp on the Barbie’.

“Alan (Jo) Johnston [pictured above left with Tony], knew him best and in the following words, says it best.”

What a wonderful human being. My dear friend and gifted art director, Tony Dick.

The gentlest of men with a mischievous sense of humour and an abundance of creative talent.

Designer, director, writer, producer, you name it, Tone could do it with panache and flair. He could be prickly if you wanted to change his work but aren’t all art directors?

Once Mo and I worked with him for a while we no longer bothered to script the video column, Tone would just go off and see it through from storyboard to editing. We were churning out commercials in those days and Tone spent half his life globetrotting from England to the United States.

We never lost sleep worrying about the outcome … he was that good!

We still talked on the phone every week when he retired to the south coast and got together whenever he was in Sydney.

I will miss him like a brother.

Farewell mon ami.

Jo.

Above: Tone with Jo, Paul Hogan and John Cornell during an Australian Tourism shoot. Below: Tone driving in LA