<strong><font color="#000000">Obituary:</font></strong> The father of the Amul girl passes away

Eustace Fernandes, the creator of the Amul girl, passed away at the age of 75. Fernandes is best remembered as a cartoonist and an illustrator and was living a retired life for some time. Since 1966, the Amul girl, dressed up in polka dots with blue hair and orange face, has ruled the hearts of millions of Indians.

Way back in 1966, the Amul account was given to the advertising agency called Advertising and Sales Promotion (ASP). The team of Sylvester da Cunha, Eustace Fernandes, Usha Katrak and Marie Pinto worked on the Amul account at that point of time. The ad became a rage with the tagline 'Utterly butterly delicious Amul' - and the rest, they say, is history.

Fernandes worked on the Amul account for three years till 1969 and then the team of Usha Katrak, K Kurian, Eustace Fernandes and Radha started Radeus Advertising in 1974. As a matter of fact, the word Radeus originated from the first three letters of Radha and Eustace.

Fernandes also launched the Limca logo with waves in the Indian market. He worked for Limca on the press, outdoor and cinema media as there were artists who had no option but to paint and illustrate on the visual side in those days.

The industry fondly remembers Fernandes, not only as a talented genius behind many memorable campaigns but also as a good human being.

"To me, he was India's best cartoonist and a real genius. I was very young when he worked with my father on the Amul campaign," states Rahul da Cunha, creative director, DaCunha Associates.

Bharat Dabholkar, ad veteran, theatre personality and the man behind many Amul Butter ads, says, "Who can deny Fernandes' brilliance of creating the Amul moppet? Those were different times and the team at ASP created a revolutionary campaign called Amul Butter. The original creation is always commendable."

Alyque Padamsee, chief executive officer, AP Advertising reminisces and says, "Fernandes was not a typical advertising person but he always emerged as a brilliant artist and an intense worker. It is a great loss to the advertising industry as a stalwart has departed. He created one of the historic mascots, next only to Air India's Maharaja. Behind his quiet demeanour lay a great sense of humour."

"I came to know him in 1994, when we bought Radeus Advertising. He was a wonderful human being - always ready to help out people. We will miss him sorely," says Kurien Mathews, former director and co-founder, TBWA Anthem.

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