Richard Annois remembered as a champion of the arts and law after his passing aged 91
Tributes are flowing for Richard Annois, who was hailed as a champion of the arts, law and community following his passing earlier this month.
Geelong
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Richard Annois, AM, has been remembered as a champion of the arts, law and community following his passing earlier this month.
A prominent lawyer that many of Geelong’s most important institutions turned to for advice through the 80s and 90s, Mr Annois helped set up the Geelong Community Foundation in late 2000.
The organisation’s director and deputy chairman from 1999 to 2003, Mr Annois’s valuable contribution put in place a legal framework to secure philanthropic funds.
He and others helped set a base that’s seen the organisation grow to donate millions of dollars to those most in need across the Geelong region.
Decades earlier Mr Annois, whose father Len was a skilled artist, championed the need for a performing arts centre in Geelong.
Numerous Geelong identities on Friday recounted Mr Annois’ efforts from the late 60s, while president of the Geelong Gallery, to beat the drum for a performing arts centre in Geelong.
Insightful letters to the Geelong Advertiser put the issue front of mind for those in power.
And by 1981, Mr Annois’s calls were heard by government and what is now the Geelong Arts Centre was established.
His 14-year presidency at the Geelong Gallery that finished in the 1978 preceded his elevation to a Member of the Order of Australia in 1983.
Barwon Health Foundation chairman Dan Simmonds said Mr Annois’s legacy was Geelong’s vibrant arts precinct.
“There’s no doubt he was absolutely instrumental in (the Geelong performing arts centre) being established and he chaired the organisation for a long period of time,” Mr Simmonds said. “He was fundamental to … the cultural life of Geelong.”
Born in February 1929, Mr Annois was recognised with a statewide award for his knowledge of the law in the early 1960s.
Admitted to practice law in 1952, he worked as a litigation and matrimonial lawyer for 20 years before focusing on commercial law.
Harwood Andrews law firm partner Richard Anderson, who relied on Mr Annois as a legal consultant for a decade until the mid 2000s, remembered him for his encyclopaedic legal mind.
“He had this tattered little notebook held together with a rubber band and when you would ask Richard a question on the law, he’d take the rubber band off and he’d flick through the pages until he found a case that was appropriate, and it always was,” Mr Anderson said.
“It was an early version of the Google search on paper.”
Mr Anderson said Mr Annois was a mentor and source or wisdom to a generation of Hardwood Andrews staff.
Mr Annois was also on the school council at Marcus Oldham College for eight years and helped secure funding for the construction of Market Square. He passed away on October 19 aged 91.
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Originally published as Richard Annois remembered as a champion of the arts and law after his passing aged 91