AGI Istanbul—hello & farewell Les
10.12.2009
On Saturday 17 October at the AGI Conference in Istanbul the Australian design community lost one of its first real champions of Graphic Design in Les Mason.
Six days earlier while in transit at Changi airport on route to Istanbul I was walking to the gate when a tall statuesque figure with a walking stick arrested my attention. This man had a presence about him that was all consuming, as we entered the plane he was two people behind, I could not help but think that maybe it was Les Mason, as I knew he was attending the conference in Istanbul but had only ever seen photos of him as he had lived in Perth for decades. As he passed my seat, I plucked the courage to ask this stranger if he was in fact Les Mason and to my delighted it was.
Together with his beautiful wife Gail, we shared some lovely time together in Istanbul. For a man of 85 he had the thirst for life of a 20 year old, unfortunately his body could not keep up with the mind. On the Saturday morning we attended the AGI General Assembly to the news that Les had not woken that morning. He went out on his terms, living life at 110%, you cannot ask for more than that.
It was an honor to share those few days, farewell Les.
David Pidgeon
