I am currently travelling around Mexico and was saddened by the news of the death of Charles Tisdall. I knew Charles for many years, as we were co-board members for The Famous People Players, the well-known black light theatre company based in Toronto. He was one of the most supportive members of the board and at one time served as its chair. He always had time to spend working out problems, preparing reports and being a jovial representative of the board. I later followed him as chair and his guidance was invaluable. No question was too small or mundane for him. He treated everyone as if she or he was the most important person he knew. He always had a smile on his face. Towards the end of his life, while he was in the hospital, we visited him a few times before I headed south and he told us wonderful stories of his life.

He loved art, the theatre and above all…his family.

He will be missed.

Judi Schwartz

Like Catherine, I was struck by the comment regarding relationships. The saying, “No one cares what you know until they know that you care,” can apply to public relations professionals as much as to clergy, physicians or politicians.

In that regard, Judy, you have prepared yourself well for this dive into blogging, because you have built a strong network of colleagues, myself included, who appreciate what you have to say. Best wishes for many future posts that will be as worthwhile as this one.

Tom

(I also think it’s great that Catherine is providing us with “Kiwi expressions,” to supplement your Italian ones.)

And to David, thank you for sharing that story about Charles. It sounds like you concur with Barb and Bart about his generosity and wonderful sense of humour. I wish I’d had the privilege of knowing him personally, but these personal remembrances are a great consolation prize.

“He always said that it always has been and still is all about relationships, telling the truth, learning from success and failure and never forgetting that, like journalists, professional public relations practitioners serve the public interest as much as their employers.”

For me, a really valuable aspect of conversations such as this is the opportunity to listen, learn something new (because there is something new to learn every day) and gain insights into the experience of others – your story about Charles Tisdall does all those things. I think Heather’s suggestion is an admirable one – sharing stories about the industry’s pioneers in different parts of the world would be a very positive thing to do, so I shall go off for a bit of a fossick* around New Zealand’s past.

*Fossick is a Kiwi expression that I am particularly fond of which means searching around, not necessarily systematically, and turning up something interesting. In England, it tends to mean ferreting out information, so I’ll be doing a bit of both I hope.

What strikes me (knowing several “senior” PR practitioners myself) is that they value people, conversations and friendship. In becoming professional, some people decry this “gin and tonic” approach, but it was about respect, trust and humanity, which should always be at the heart of good public relations.

Not all my “old guys” in motor PR were as feminist in their day as Charles Tisdall appears to have been. But I find they are very supportive of women in PR today. They think we have things harder in terms of the speed of change, but their values apply as much today as when they were busy protecting reputations and managing the media agenda.