Vale Rick Williams 1960 – 2016

It is a great sadness to announce that Rick Williams passed away suddenly at his Melbourne home last week. Williams was heavily involved with the advertising, media and print industries.

As Marketing Manager for the inaugural years of Rally Australia, an event which was the first ever Australian round of the World Rally Championship, he championed innovations such as The Langley Park Special Stage – a breakthrough for World Rallying and now embraced by other countries.

Williams later went on to launch the Hopman Cup, another event that put Perth on the world stage. Working for Eventscorp, Paul McNamee, and later the International Tennis Federation, Williams was an integral part of the team that brought some of the world’s No 1 Tennis players to Perth and also created an iconic social event of the time ‘The Annual Hopman Cup Ball’ on New Years Eve.

Williams worked with the Hopman Cup for 20 years and helped secure major long-term sponsors such as Hyundai, which guaranteed the success of the event in Western Australia.

A passionate lover of all sports, a devoted Eagles fan, and a funny and entertaining raconteur with a huge laugh he will be sadly missed. Williams leaves wife Sue and children Lauren and Richie.

A funeral will be held in Melbourne this Friday but his family invite all those who knew and worked with Rick to join them for a farewell drink and to share some stories at The West Coast Football Club, Fred Burton Way, City Beach starting at 12.30pm next Friday, February 12th.

“A party, some stories and a few laughs is how Rick would have wanted it”.