Much-loved adman dies

Although many in the industry will deeply mourn his passing, it is particularly distressing for me as he was a dear friend for many, many years.

I first met Sam when he was traffic manager at VZ in about 1974. I'd just moved up to Johannesburg to become a media planner. I didn't know many people but Sam and I became friends almost immediately.

He had a spare room at his flat in Yeoville and I moved in to share it with him.

They were very wild days. A gang of us from VZ used to drink rather a lot at the Sterling Hotel. Mostly it was Joy Walmsely (RIP), Natalie Wilks, Phyllis vd Walt (RIP) Sam, Ian Snelling, John Turvey (RIP), John Charter, Jeff Schur, Geoff Roberts, Simon Hyde-Jones and Nigel Twidale, amongst many others.

Everyone throughout the industry knew Sam. He had a big belly and laughed a lot. He was also remarkably popular with girls at that time (and for some time after that, too) and this was because he was such entertaining company and they found him irresistible.

He was also a highly talented cook and used to whip up exotic (and some not-so-exotic) dishes, inviting friends around for dinner where everyone always had a great time. His culinary skill was even featured in a book by a French author who met him on a visit to South Africa, in a chapter entitled “Fat Sam”.

When he was politely asked to leave VZ he had the brilliant idea of opening up a courier business. which specialised in getting agency advertising material to publications all over the country – quickly and efficiently. He called it “Adfreight”.

In fact, when I moved back to Cape Town he let me use one of the rooms in his office at no rent at all, which helped me no end.

Eventually “Adfreight” was squeezed out of business by larger companies and peculiar new SAA rules and tariffs.

But you could never keep Sam down.

At one point he had a farm not too far out of town and he told me one day that he was going to make a fortune out of growing garlic. He was absolutely convinced of it! But to get a good crop you need frost and then regular watering. The frost was no problem but his water pump had broken and he couldn't water – so he prayed for rain and watched the soil (and shoots) dry out in the blistering heat. Then, one day, the heavens opened and Sam danced around like a madman in the rain assuming this would mean his crop would be saved. Unfortunately, his soil had become so dry and the rain was very hard.

He phoned me to ask: “Do you know anyone who will buy brown garlic?”

Anyway, after many hare-brained schemes, he set up shop as a bookbinder and “Haste Bookbinders” was soon in high demand.

His network of friends always supported him.

We stayed in touch regularly and for many years I travelled to Johannesburg a great deal and we'd play dominoes – sometimes for very high stakes and often through the night. It was invariably Ian Snelling, myself and Sam. We even had an annual trophy! I think that's still on one of Ian's bookshelves because he won it more often than us. Sam was a better player than me but it's hard to beat Snelling who has a calculator built into his brain.

The advertising business is a fickle one, as anyone who's retired will tell you, but when Sam retired the drinks and parties didn't stop. We'd still all have riotous lunches with John Farquhar (RIP) and so many others.

I really cannot think of any time when he wasn't full of cheer – except for the last couple of years when his health deteriorated rapidly. As is often the case, he probably knew the end was near and no doubt that was of some relief for him.

I will miss you so much Sammy and the world has lost a happy soul, a kind, loving and gentle man.

He's survived by his brother, Neville, sister Twizzy and daughter, Andrea.