Vale Gary Leih: “You had gonads, you fought for glory, you fought for the creators of the work”

Many in the Australian, UK and South African ad industry will be saddened to hear of the passing of Gary Leih in Cape Town, after a long and brave fight against cancer. For Australians Leih made a big impression during his time in Sydney in the 90s as managing director of Batey Kazoo.

David Fox, former CEO of Ogilvy Australia, now CEO Ogilvy Middle East and North Africa, pays tribute to his friend (pictured below with Leih):

Our dear friend Gary Leih passed away yesterday. No post can ever come close to capturing the life he led – too many stories and adventures to speak of.

A man with a cheeky smile and a glint in his eye which always meant trouble (fun) and a boss who always looked after you, pushed you and wanted you to succeed.

I first met Gary in 1996 when he became the MD at Batey Kazoo in Sydney, which kickstarted a twenty six year friendship across all parts of the world. Many friends from that time are on here now and they know what a success those years were at Batey’s. Huge new business wins. Huge growth. Huge fun. Ad Agency of the year and much more. All under Gary’s leadership. A time we all look back on with great fondness. Friends made for life. Memories of a lifetime. Gary was the beating heart of it all.

A man who also loved Ogilvy after becoming the head of Africa and then Chairman for the UK at Ogilvy.

Thank you Gary for the fun, inspiration, late nights, very long lunches, laughter, singing, Chardonnay, life lessons and the down right madness of it all. It was an adventure from start to finish. A life well lived and a precious life that will be missed. We raise a glass of Chardonnay to you Gary and God’s speed my dear friend.

Creative director Derek Craig, well known in both Australia and South Africa, was a partner of Leih’s at The White House in South Africa. Here he pays tribute to his old friend:

Hey Gazza,
Going to miss you.
What a guy! What a presence.

Memories of you and your personality are BIG and like well lit beacons, dotted, mostly unexpectedly, throughout my advertising career and after.

In a world where my early and naive impression was that it was a creative person’s duty to have a complete disdain for a suit, your GUTS and genuine creative energy forced me to think again, as you did, again and again, with the long lineage of smart people you hired and inspired, and who would ultimately lead others in the future (Joe Heron, Mike Abel, etc.).

In my one short year at RST&M you (and Mel, Brian and Roger’s teams) taught me plenty. You had gonads, you fought for glory, you fought for the creators of the work, you fought for the integrity of the clients’ brands. You don’t get any better than that. For that I will always have the deepest respect.

And then, you also liked a party.

Fast forward, a good couple of years later. Quite out of the blue, while I was at JWT, you sidled up at one of those epic cocktail gatherings, at the Heerengracht I think, an offered me a partnership at the most exciting thing that was about to happen to advertising in Cape Town, since RST&M. How could anyone turn that one down. You offered me a seat and partnership at The White House, undoubtedly one of the happiest and most adrenaline fueled times of my advertising life, in the most beautiful advertising HQ location in the world (Think Oudekraal/Twelve Apostles Spa). Thank you for the opportunity and some special memories.

Thanks for all the jols and parties in all of your many homes, Marina Da Gama, Kalk Bay, Hout Bay. Thank you for attending my children’s bithday parties. And some of mine.

Thank you, a couple of years later for hosting me so generously at your Manly Home, in Sydney, and guiding me through the options I was looking at in Australia.

Thanks for the happy times on your business visits, much later on, on my balcony in Melbourne, where we laughed and sipped wine, long into the cicada shrilling summer nights.

Thanks for your warm welcome and lingering lunches when I returned to Cape Town in 2015 and 2016.

For hosting my son Dac and his fiance, for a few nights at Water Colours on their visit here form OZ in 2019.

And lastly thank you for our frequent chats and sometimes quite early glasses at your epic final project Willets, over the last year and a bit.

Gazza was great crossing paths with you, always so unexpectedly, and often.

You will be sadly missed by us. My deepest sympathy to your dear Sharon, Caitlin, and Lexi and the many family members and friends that always surrounded you.

Like Mike Abel and a few others have already credited, you were definitely one of a kind.

So long for now, pal.

MORE TRIBUTES TO GARY ON FACEBOOK