RIP Bob Rightford

Image © Chris Rawlinson on Twitter.

Rightford was one of the founding fathers of Ogilvy & Mather SA father agency, Rightford, Searle-Tripp & Makin (RSTM).

How Rightford, Searle-Tripp & Makin gave SA advertising a Wallop!

Leigh Andrews  19 Nov 2014

At the 2014 launch of their book, Wallop, Rightford said he had wanted to leave something behind "for the family", so he wrote to all the agency alumni in 2007 asking for a few comments and the correspondence was overwhelming, with almost all stating that "those were the best years of their lives as they had so much fun and did so much terrific work."

Rightford was also one of the Red & Yellow School's founding fathers, embarking on a mission 20 years ago with the promise to define Red & Yellow as the school where "our students have the most up-to-date 'bag of skills' when they graduate."

I first met Bob at Ogilvy Cape Town through the then-MD, Gavin Levinsohn. I remember the conversation, Bob was sharing advice on business and company culture, this was years after leaving the agency, yet he still cared passionately for it and the people in it. It's rare to meet someone this caring in life, so every time I got the chance to chat, I would ask him for advice, and Bob was always more than happy to share a story or two. I know the ethic at RSTM was the work, the work, the work, but thanks to Bob and co, it was also the people, the people, the people. Thank you for the memories, Bob.

Rawlinson also shared this image of final planning for the Wallop! book.

Rightford was honoured in 2014 with a Financial Mail AdFocus Lifetime Achiever Award and will be sorely missed by family, friends and the industry alike. Sincere condolences from the Bizcommunity team.

.@hughmasekela #BobRightford @ursulaleguin - A sad start to the year. #RestInPeace, giants. We hope to live up to your examples & expectations. Thoughts with families & friends everywhere pic.twitter.com/EpbO0zZOya

— evan milton (@evnm) January 24, 2018