The international PR and communications industry has lost one of its greatest pioneers, innovators, and true champions following the passing of Tony Christodoulou, Founder and Chairman of Action Global Communications last week.
Having started the Action network from the spare room of his family home in Nicosia, Cyprus in 1971, Christodoulou, a larger-than-life character with a lifelong passion for storytelling, leveraged an unprecedented 35-year partnership with British Airways to expand the Action brand into 40 markets.
With the UK-based airline stretching its network list to numerous newly emerging business and tourism destinations in the 1980s and 1990s, Christodoulou established Action as the largest independent agency network in the Middle East, North Africa, southern and eastern Europe during his four-decade tenure at the group’s helm.
After establishing Action’s first UAE presence in Dubai in 1994 following the acquisition of MCS, Christodoulou helped shape the Middle East region’s PR and communications industry, molding countless teams and in-market that embodied his relentless and selfless commitment to clients across a diverse spread of industries.
Christodoulou also served as the Honorary Consul General of New Zealand in Cyprus for 22 years, and in addition to multiple industry awards he was awarded an Honorary Fellowship of the Middle East Public Relations Association (MEPRA) in 2018.
“Our father had an infectious personality and unparalleled ability to form connections,” said Christodoulou’s son Chris, the group’s sitting CEO. “The outpouring of emotions and memories across social media and industry platforms following dad’s passing underlines his unique standing as one the pre-eminent mentors for many of today’s leading communicators in the MENA region.
It is a legacy that dad, and the entire Action Global Communications family, remain very proud to have contributed to.”
Action Global Communications has opened an online condolence and tribute book for Christodoulou on its homepage (www.actionprgroup.com). The page has already welcomed hundreds of messages from PR professionals and industry captains from around the world.
“We are touched by the many messages that honour the amazing reach and influence dad had in his career,” added Kathy Christodoulou, Tony’s first-born child and the group’s New Business Development head. “He was a master of making genuine connections with clients and colleagues. In today’s fast-paced industry with so much focus on delivery, the importance of meaningful connections is often forgotten.
Those connections are part of the Action DNA and something we will continue to pride ourselves on as we seek to drive Action and the industry forward in our Founder’s honour.”
Tony is survived by his wife, Mickey; children Chris and Kathy, and six grandchildren. He is also survived by the thousands of employees – past and present – who have worked for Action Global Communications during the agency’s 51 years of multi-market operations. He was 80 years old.
Tributes, memories, and stories of the enigmatic industry figurehead can be shared on Action’s website: www.actionprgroup.com
