Vale Tony Gulisano: An eternal optimist, a happy warrior in the fight to elevate brilliant creative work and the people who make it

Many in the global creative advertising industry will be deeply saddened to hear of the passing of Tony Gulisano, Chief Growth Officer of The One Club for Creativity, who has died at the age of 70.

The following is a statement to the industry from The One Club for Creativity:

We are truly devastated to announce the passing of our One Club colleague, industry mainstay, and dear, dear friend Tony Gulisano, who left us suddenly this morning at the age of 70.

While Tony was a part of our family since 2015, serving as our Chief Growth Officer, that is but a fraction of what he has been to the global advertising industry at large for more than 40 years. An eternal optimist, a happy warrior in the fight to elevate brilliant creative work and the people who make it, Tony grew his friendship circle to encompass the globe, be it through helming the Clio Awards for more than a quarter-century, consulting on the London International Awards, or holding court in the South of France each June, where everybody knew his cheerful smile.

Last year, Tony was one of the driving forces behind the launch of our ONE School program to expand the industry’s pipeline for young Black talent, and just this week he solidified our brand new International Board of Directors — filled with leaders from every corner of the globe who no doubt valued Tony’s friendship as much as we did.

Plans to memorialize Tony during our upcoming Creative Week in May are underway, as is a celebration of his life this summer. In the meantime, we will be collecting and sharing memories from Tony’s galaxy of friends in the industry. If you’d like to contribute your own “Tony tale” — many likely including his “you can’t make it up!” catchphrase — please reach out to Brett McKenzie, The One Club’s Content Manager, at brett@oneclub.org.

Godspeed, Tony. We’ll leave the pot of really, really dark coffee on for you.

Adds long-time friend and colleague Barbara Levy, President of London International Awards: “What a sad day for the industry and even sadder for Tony’s tight-knit family. He was an amazingly attentive husband to Nancy, a devoted father to Stacey and a doting grandfather.

“Tony and I started our careers at CLIO in the late 70s. We worked together for a number of years there. I then left to set-up LIA and Tony remained at CLIO. Over the next few decades our paths crossed several times as Tony came to work at LIA twice and then went on to The One Show.

“He loved the ad business and got such pleasure from traveling the world and making friends around the globe. His sudden death is quite a shock to all of us at LIA. He will be missed by many, but forgotten by no one whose life he touched, either professionally or personally.”

UPDATE: In his honor, The One Club has established the Tony Gulisano Memorial Fund. Donations will go to support the club’s ONE School and ONE Production programs, as well as shared with his family.

The One Club will pay tribute to Gulisano at The One Show 2022 awards ceremony on May 20 during Creative Week in New York, and host an event for the industry to celebrate his life in the summer.

Services will be held on Tuesday, March 29 at 11:00 am at Saint Anthony of Padua church in New York.

Former Leo Burnett Global CCO Mark Tutssel with Tony at LIA in Las Vegas

Tony with Creative Awards and Rankings Consultant Emma Wilkie and The One Club CEO Kevin Swanepoel at Campaign Brief Welcome Cocktails in Cannes

Tony with legendary UK creative director Jeremy Craigen

Tony with CB’s Mollie Myerson and Lynchy at a CB function for The One Show in Sydney

Tony with LA-based Ben Nott at a CB function for The One Show in Sydney

Tony with CB’s Adam Shaw and Kim Shaw and Paulus Korea CCO Hong-tack Kim at a recent award show in Asia