Vili Milisits state memorial service remembers a man of ‘boundless generosity’
Dignitaries, family and friends, came together during a state memorial for Vili Milisits, ending two days of services for the baking icon.
SA News
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Politicians rubbed shoulders with pastry workers at Friday’s state memorial for the late Vilmos “Vili” Milisits who was remembered for his “boundless generosity” and “determination”.
Governor Hieu Van Le, Premier Steven Marshall and Opposition Leader Peter Malinauskas were among dignitaries who joined Vili’s staff, and strangers, at the Adelaide Festival Theatre for a touching tribute for the larger-than-life food identity who died on March 26, aged 72.
A string quartet opened the service, sitting alongside a Vili’s pie cart adorned with a three-tier cake, embellished with a picture of Vili’s smiling face.
A slide show of his life was accompanied by a stirring rendition of Gerry and The Pacemakers hit, You’ll Never Walk Alone.
Master of ceremonies and football great Graham Cornes said Vili “had an affinity with the working class”.
“Vili had a special touch of magic … boundless generosity,” Cornes said.
Mr Le – a Vietnamese refugee – said he always felt a “strong kinship” with Vili, who fled Hungary in 1956 and went on to build one of the biggest baking companies in the nation.
“His is an inspirational story of how multiculturalism has helped shape our nation economically, culturally and in so many ways,” Mr Le said.
“ (Vili’s family) had to start out like many other new migrants and navigate the many overwhelming challenges of finding a new home, learning a new language, adjusting to new ways of dealing with a different civic system, accessing new services and embracing a new way of life.”
Mr Le also acknowledged Vili’s determination, generosity and work ethic and said he was an “inspiration, a shining light” in SA’s migrant community.
Advertising guru Andrew Killey, of agency KWP!, worked closely with Vili after they met in 1991, devising the big blue “V” on the footpath of the Cafe de Vili’s Mile End headquarters and running several ad campaigns for the company.
Mr Killey remembered Vili as one of the “greatest advertising minds” he had ever come across.
He spoke of several memorable lines from their recording sessions at Vili’s Unley Park home, but particularly a commercial for a chilli dog, where Vili said, unprompted: “My chilli dog burns both ends.”
As well as his gratitude and work ethic, he was remembered for his sense of humour, relatability and community spirit.
Vili’s widow, Rosemary, and daughter Alison also addressed the memorial.
The service concluded with Vili’s famous saying: “I’m Hungarian by birth, Australian by choice.”
Vili died after a lung transplant in Sydney.
The state service followed a private family funeral on Thursday.
GUARD OF HONOUR AT CAFE DE VILI’S AND PRIVATE FUNERAL
Workers and family have begun a two-day tribute to Adelaide’s favourite pie man Vilmos ‘Vili’ Milisits, which will culminate with a state memorial at the Adelaide Festival Centre on Friday afternoon.
Around 300 Milisits family members and friends gathered for a private funeral service for the patriarch on Thursday afternoon at St Francis Xavier’s Cathedral.
In the morning Vili’s Mile End bakery employees stopped work – the first time in the company’s history – to pay a touching tribute to their beloved boss.
About 140 workers, many visibly emotional, joined with family members to form a guard of honour for the baking legend.
Mr Milisits, 72, died on March 26 following a lung transplant.
Once the hearse arrived at the site, employees lined up to touch the coffin and share a moment with Mr Milisits’ wife, Rosemary.
When that was complete, a round of applause broke out as the car drove away.
Vili’s training and development manager Nick Launchbury said it was a fitting tribute for a beloved figure.
“It was good to see him back in the bakery for the last time,” he said.
“The bakery was his life and he spent a lot of his time here, and everyone that’s here today has something special for him.”
Mr Launchbury, who has worked at the company for 16 years, remembered his boss as “the hardest worker in the room, always”.
“He lived in the bakery,” he said. “He worked on the ovens every day, he cooked every pie.”
Another worker, Stephen Purvis, who has spent 17 years at the company, said the tribute was “very emotional”.
“He’s given a lot of people a lot of opportunities, especially disadvantaged and people with disabilities and the unemployed,” he said.
“He’s given them a fair chance, and it’s a very safe and comfortable place to work.”
Flags at the premises have been flown at half-mast since Mr Milisits died.
Hundreds are expected at the state memorial on Friday when South Australians pay their last respects to the refugee who fled the 1956 Hungarian Revolution with his family as a child.
His work ethic, infectious smile and philanthropic efforts made him one of the most visible and popular South Australian businessmen of the past half century.
When he arrived in Australia he was derided as a ‘wog’ and had no love for the nation’s tasteless pies, pasties and sausage rolls.
He was even voted “least likely to succeed” by classmates at Campbelltown High.
But somewhere along the way a deep and mutual love affair developed between Adelaide and the man we nicknamed Vili.
It began when Vili, an “artisan confectioner” started in 1978 making the pies he had been too ashamed to cook. He did it so well with his own special pastry and spices that we made him a honoured South Australian.
Speaking at the family service on behalf of herself and her brother Simon, daughter Alison paid stoic tribute to her father and recalled his trademark “Cheshire cat smile" and fierce competitiveness.
She recalled the activities he was not know for; camping, fishing, soccer, ten pin bowling, tennis, road trips, gardening and “the simple things in life”.
“He spent time every day in his garden with a glass of red in one hand and a hose in the other and would pick our mum flowers every week for the living room,’’ Alison said.
“He was a man of many words, he was passionate about life, a man of principles, he was gentle, he was humble, patient, caring, and very generous.
“Dad was a doer, and a man who would never wonder ‘what if’, because he did everything he put his mind to.”
Alison recalled the struggle of Vili, his mother Terez and his seven siblings as father Istvan was imprisoned and tortured first by the Nazis and then Communists.
“They fled the communist uprising on foot with only their clothes, papers and a feather quilt dad had plucked geese to fill,’’ Alison said.
“In London dinner was sometimes and piece of bread and a cup of cocoa and bathing was only allowed once a week.”
After two years the family chose to be relocated to Australia, attracted here because there were unlikely to be wars over international borders.
Vilmos ‘Vili’ Milisits OAM will be honoured for the final time at 3.30pm at the Festival Centre.
All guests must register their attendance by calling the Department of the Premier and Cabinet on (08) 8429 5135.
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