HIS LIFE

Anthony  (Tony) Martin Vicente Pintado was born on 17th November 1959 in Singian Clinic in Manila, Philippines. He was 8 lbs 15 ounces at birth and was named by his mother, Milagros Vicente Pintado and father, Felix Jose Pintado after St. Anthony of Padua. He was also proud to bear the name of his Uncle Tony, who died in his early teens in WW2. He passed away on 7th March 2013 of heart failure.

 

ARRIVING IN AUSTRALIA

Tony’s father, Felix, was an accountant in Manila and then in Sydney. The family of eight children migrated to Sydney, Australia in 1972, where they all became Australian citizens. Felix and Mila Pintado arrived in Sydney 1972, settling in the suburb of St. Ives with their 8 children (aged 2 to 17 years), shortly before martial law was imposed in the Philippines. Of Spanish descent, they had decided in 1970 that Australia was the country of their future. Rosie, Felix's Swiss mother and family matriarch, who survived the WW2 Japanese occupation of the Philippines losing a husband and 3 of her 5 children, was highly instrumental in the move to Australia. In 1993, she died in Sydney where she is also proudly buried.

He attended St. Ives North Public School and then St. Leo’s Catholic College, Wahroonga until 1978. He graduated from Macquarie University in 1982 with a Bachelor’s degree in English, majoring in Mass Communication. 

 

FAMILY

Tony married on 11th June 1983 at St. Keiran’s Catholic Church, Manly Vale. Tony was the beloved father of seven children and twenty-four grand children. Tony is survived by brothers, Felix (Di), Iggy (Sara), Jay (Amanda), Santi (Elena) and sisters, Mary Rose, Milly (Peter) Faehrmann and Victoria (Michael) Beaumont. He has many nieces, nephews and cousins in Sydney, Melbourne, Perth, Philippines, Spain, United States and England. He loved his children, grandkids, nephews, nieces, cousins and godson dearly.  

 

WORK

Tony was the consummate salesman. He was a proven Sales and Marketing Executive with a solid reputation in exceeding sales targets and managing sales teams. He worked across many industries in large corporates, small and medium business and in state, national and international roles. Many benefited from his genius marketing plan of seeding numerous samples amongst friends and family.  He was even able to cajole his brother, Jay into wearing a full size Poochie dog suit at a shopping centre promotion.  At Roadshow entertainment, he was asked to dress up as Tom Cruise at a launch event, where he lapped up the opportunity by posing for pictures and signing autographs on the red carpet.

 

SPORT

He loved his sport. His brothers enjoyed playing soccer, tennis, basketball and golf with him. He represented his school in soccer and basketball. He continued to play soccer for Redfield All Age and played regular Sunday basketball. He was President of the Redfield Soccer Club. Despite his shortcomings as a footballer, he always looked impeccable – before, during and after the game. It was an indication of his lovable showmanship that his last basketball shot was a three-point basket, hitting nothing but net. His passion for sporting encounters transcended all codes. From his beloved Manchester City in the English Premier League, his mighty Dragons in the NRL, the Waratahs and the Wallabies in Rugby, the New South Wales Blues in the State of Origin and of course, the Australian Socceroos. He was an avid sports memorabilia collector.

 

THE ENTERTAINER

He always had a story and a joke for anyone he met – every time and for every occasion. Nothing was too serious. During his teenage years, he cheekily taunted all his beloved sisters regularly.  He could make any hand puppet or plush toy come alive to music. He was a great impersonator of voices and accents, prank calling his way into people’s phones and voicemails which ended in the funniest of belly laughs. In any dark room environment, his classic line was “we should all light some candles, join hands and bring back Elvis”. He was an entertainer and loved the limelight. He was famous for drumming the theme from Hawaii 5-0 during class and summarily sent to the Principal’s office regularly. He sang at his Parent’s 50th Anniversary, Father’s 80th birthday party and his brother Santi’s wedding. He was Frankie Vallie to his brother’s Four Seasons in a rendition of “Who Loves You” at his Mother’s 80th birthday, that has been immortalised on Youtube.