{"id":2754,"date":"2021-06-10T13:31:04","date_gmt":"2021-06-10T03:31:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/theveterinarian.com.au\/?p=2754"},"modified":"2021-06-01T13:38:21","modified_gmt":"2021-06-01T03:38:21","slug":"vale-william-blackhall-1934-2021","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/theveterinarian.com.au\/?p=2754","title":{"rendered":"Vale: William Blackhall (1934\u20132021)"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Bill Blackhall, an icon of the Australian Animal Health Industry,\npassed away peacefully on February 28 2021, aged 87. Known and respected by\nthousands in Australia and New Zealand, and,<\/del> indeed across\nthe world, Bill\u2019s enduring legacy is indelibly stamped on this close-knit\nanimal health community. <\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

Born in Cronulla NSW after the Great Depression and just\nprior to World War 2, Blackhall\u2019s humble beginnings gave no real clue as to the\nvisionary leader he would become. After leaving school at fifteen, an early\nforay into retail fast food and then poultry farming, Bill landed a role as a <\/ins>salesman\nin the animal health industry, where he pursued a career path which would\nfulfil his destiny until his official retirement in 2003.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Marrying at only twenty years of age, Blackhall worked exceptionally\nhard to forge a life for his family. From the outset, the vision of where he\nwanted to be in his chosen industry, coupled with his foresight, competitiveness\nand intelligence landed him the position of Managing Director of Merck, Sharpe\nand Dohme Japan for two years. In this role, he worked and socialised with\ncountless expats, other company Managing Directors and CEOs, forging invaluable\ncontacts and lifelong friendships. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Upon his return to Australia, Smith Kline & French\nabsorbed his time and focus. Then an entrepreneurial opportunity lured Blackhall\nto start Syntex Australia. After leading Syntex to be a major participant in\nthe Australian market and being appointed Global President for Syntex\nAgribusiness, his outstanding business acumen and can-do attitude came to the\nattention of veterinarian Pierre-Richard Dick, founder of Virbac France. After Blackhall\nleft Syntex, a joint venture was forged essentially based on the handshake of these\ntwo honourable men, and so Virbac Australia was born in 1987. From a one-person\noperation in Sydney NSW, Virbac Australia grew to the substantial company it is\ntoday. His discipline, drive, determination, and honour imbued a friendly and\nrespectful culture into this highly regarded company. He is well-remembered as\na great mentor, a tough but doggedly loyal boss, instrumental in starting the\ncareers and mentoring many still in the animal health industry to this day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Blackhall was also involved at hands-on level successfully\nrunning commercial grazing properties at Yeoval, Cumnock and Crookwell. He not\nonly supported the industry but lived in and for it as well.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As a pioneer of the Australian industry and life member of\nthe VMDA, Blackhall\u2019s skills as a thoughtful, persuasive communicator spread\nfar and wide especially into the area of government and regulation, where he\nwas a fierce and successful fighter on behalf of the animal health sector. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bruce Johnson, Ian Wheatley and Bill Blackhall were the\narchitects of the initial version of the cGMP (Australian Code of Good\nManufacturing Practice for Veterinary Medicines). This association provided the\npractical framework for the manufacture of safe and effective veterinary medicines,\nwhile allowing local manufacturers to develop at a practical pace. These three\npioneers were the initial recipients of the VMDA\u2019s Bill Blackhall Award for\nExcellence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If awards for excellence were given in all aspects of life,\nBill Blackhall would be a voluminous winner. He led by example and exuded a passion\nfor life. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

He is remembered as one of those rare people who, despite\nachieving many things, retained a modest demeanour and generosity of spirit. In\nbusiness, a man with an iron will but a big heart. In family life, a kind,\ncaring and generous husband, father, grandfather and great grandfather.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ahead of his time in many ways, Bill Blackhall has left a great\nlegacy. He lived a life that mattered.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Bill Blackhall, an icon of the Australian Animal Health Industry, passed away peacefully on February 28 2021, aged 87. Known and respected by thousands in Australia and New Zealand, and, indeed across the world, Bill\u2019s enduring legacy is indelibly stamped on this close-knit animal health community.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2755,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[67],"tags":[2169,981],"class_list":["post-2754","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-features","tag-bill-blackhall","tag-in-memoriam"],"rise-blocks_total_comments":0,"rise-blocks_categories":[{"term_id":67,"name":"Features","slug":"features","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":68,"taxonomy":"category","description":"","parent":0,"count":63,"filter":"raw","cat_ID":67,"category_count":63,"category_description":"","cat_name":"Features","category_nicename":"features","category_parent":0}],"rise-blocks_excerpt":"Bill Blackhall, an icon of the Australian Animal Health Industry, passed away peacefully on February 28 2021, aged 87. Known and respected by thousands in Australia and New Zealand, and, indeed across the world, Bill\u2019s enduring legacy is indelibly stamped on this close-knit animal health community.","blog_post_layout_featured_media_urls":{"thumbnail":["https:\/\/theveterinarian.com.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/Screen-Shot-2021-06-01-at-1.32.46-pm-e1622518454217-150x150.png",150,150,true],"full":["https:\/\/theveterinarian.com.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/Screen-Shot-2021-06-01-at-1.32.46-pm-e1622518454217.png",561,479,false]},"categories_names":{"67":{"name":"Features","link":"https:\/\/theveterinarian.com.au\/?cat=67"}},"tags_names":{"2169":{"name":"Bill Blackhall","link":"https:\/\/theveterinarian.com.au\/?tag=bill-blackhall"},"981":{"name":"in memoriam","link":"https:\/\/theveterinarian.com.au\/?tag=in-memoriam"}},"comments_number":"0","wpmagazine_modules_lite_featured_media_urls":{"thumbnail":["https:\/\/theveterinarian.com.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/Screen-Shot-2021-06-01-at-1.32.46-pm-e1622518454217-150x150.png",150,150,true],"cvmm-medium":["https:\/\/theveterinarian.com.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/Screen-Shot-2021-06-01-at-1.32.46-pm-e1622518454217.png",300,256,false],"cvmm-medium-plus":["https:\/\/theveterinarian.com.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/Screen-Shot-2021-06-01-at-1.32.46-pm-e1622518454217.png",242,207,false],"cvmm-portrait":["https:\/\/theveterinarian.com.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/Screen-Shot-2021-06-01-at-1.32.46-pm-e1622518454217.png",400,342,false],"cvmm-medium-square":["https:\/\/theveterinarian.com.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/Screen-Shot-2021-06-01-at-1.32.46-pm-e1622518454217.png",561,479,false],"cvmm-large":["https:\/\/theveterinarian.com.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/Screen-Shot-2021-06-01-at-1.32.46-pm-e1622518454217.png",561,479,false],"cvmm-small":["https:\/\/theveterinarian.com.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/Screen-Shot-2021-06-01-at-1.32.46-pm-e1622518454217.png",111,95,false],"full":["https:\/\/theveterinarian.com.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/Screen-Shot-2021-06-01-at-1.32.46-pm-e1622518454217.png",561,479,false]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/theveterinarian.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2754","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/theveterinarian.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/theveterinarian.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theveterinarian.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theveterinarian.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2754"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/theveterinarian.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2754\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2756,"href":"https:\/\/theveterinarian.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2754\/revisions\/2756"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theveterinarian.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/2755"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/theveterinarian.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2754"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theveterinarian.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2754"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theveterinarian.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2754"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}