Obituary For Tony Gertenbach By Dudley Annenberg
Tony passed away on Friday 24th July 2015 after a short illness at the age of 75.
I met Tony in the late 70’s. Tony owned industrial buildings in Maitland from where he ran his well-known company Penguin Pools.
I built up a strong relationship with Tony in letting his buildings for him and I also sold him properties.
Whenever we met he told me that when he sells Penguin Pools he is going to work with me. I never really took him that seriously.
I had just fired 4 brokers at the end of 1985 and was working alone very nicely when in April 1986 Tony called me to say he wanted to join me.
We met at the popular Zerbans coffee shop in the Gardens Centre for lunch and I told Tony about the demise of the 4 brokers I fired, why they were fired and if he didn’t want to be fired then he had to work my way in order to succeed. He gladly accepted the challenge.
We worked very well together for 19 years. Tony was an excellent broker and mentor to me after my father passed away in 1991. He became a director and together I made my first investment in commercial property with Tony which followed with further investments over the years.
In 2005 he turned 65 and he decided to retire and spent a lot of time sailing in the Mediterranean, cycling and enjoying life.
During his retirement Tony would pop into the office on a monthly basis to collect his mail and keep in touch.
He will be sorely missed by us all and we extend our sincerest condolences to Christine, Alison, Craig and their families.