Tony Christodoulou spent decades pouring his formidable passion and energy into emerging PR markets, building the Action Global PR network that fully realised his feisty, familial approach to business and communications. He died on Thursday 11 May at the age of 80.

Christodoulou launched Cyprus PR firm Action Global with his wife Mickey in 1971. Four years later, he was forced to flee his homeland after Turkey invaded Northern Cyprus, leaving his business prospects in a precarious position. Christodoulou soon had bigger concerns, working for exiled Cypriot leader Archbishop Makarios to sway international opinion behind his country’s cause.

Eventually, Christodoulou's family returned to Cyprus and Action Global restarted life. The firm was initially reliant on its anchor client British Airways, but Christodoulou proved himself to be an extraordinary entrepreneur — building an empire that, at one point, stretched across North Africa, Eastern Europe and the Middle East. 

Over the past decade, the Action Global network may have become less obviously complex under the leadership of Tony's children Kathy and Chris, but the firm's uniquely independent culture — embodied best by Tony's sociable outlook to life and generosity of spirit — remains firmly intact.

As Action Global's tribute puts it: "Gregarious, wise, larger than life, and the epitome of motivational energy, Tony was a dreamer, trailblazer, and true titan of the PR industry. Prior to the advent of in-vogue terms such as start-up and entrepreneur, Tony rewrote and redefined the industry rule book."

PRovoke Media's 2013 Profile of the Action Global chairman notes that "there is unlikely to be another agency founder quite like Christodoulou, colourful and ready to take on all-comers". In the same article, clients and colleagues point to Christodoulou's infectious good humour and groundbreaking ability to build successful PR operations across countries that are often overlooked by American and British networks. 

That kind of expansion and growth, into less fancied markets such as Libya, Iraq and Kazakhstan, would surely have foundered had it not been for Christodoulou's iconoclastic vision and familial management style. Former Cyprus president George Vassiliou may have described Action Global's plans as "bloody mad", but Christodoulou ploughed on regardless. In the process, he helped realise one of the key agency principles that we now take for granted; that culture and people are just as important as financial acumen and business savvy. 

In particular, Christodoulou's unique management style — described as "a relentless succession of phone calls that alternately cajole, berate and praise his managers" — turned Action into an extended family, rather than a bloodless investment vehicle. That sensibility helped usher in Kathy and Chris' entry into the business, with the duo taking on active leadership duties over the past decade.

Christodoulou credited his own remarkable work ethic to his immigrant roots in London, where he began selling mint at Exmouth Market at the age of eight. But his work took on added urgency following a lupus diagnosis in 1982. In recent years, battling various health issues, Christodoulou had stepped back from day-to-day management of his beloved Action Global. 

Christodoulou's connections spanned far and wide, whether celebrities such as Peter Sellers and Engelbert Humperdinck, or a 22-year tenure as New Zealand's Honorary Consul in Cyprus. With Christodoulou, there were always stories aplenty — reflecting a life that was devoted to building professional and personal relationships, not that the latter distinction ever mattered to the Action Global founder. 

Christodoulou is survived by his wife, Mickey; two children, Kathy and Christakis; and six grandchildren.