My father-in-law Nick FitzGerald, who has died aged 74, made his mark in the world of advertising by founding his own agency, Pincus Vidler Arthur FitzGerald, and winning clients including Fiat, Mary Quant, Christian Dior and Tonka Toys. They were heady days: one of his close friends from the time told me that "all our fun was outside the agency our mutual interest in listening to and playing jazz; wine and food". Not that the extracurricular interests of the founder held his company back: it was acquired by the leading US firm BBDO in 1983 to form a $35m agency.
Nick was convivial to a fault and devoted to his family. His own Dublin tribe not all of whom share his commitment to spelling their surname with a capital 'G' teemed with writers, directors, poets, actors and solicitors (the family law firm, D and T Fitzgerald, has a walk-on part in Ulysses). The novelist Jennifer Johnston is a cousin, the actor Tara Fitzgerald a niece, and his aunt Geraldine Fitzgerald was also an actor who appeared alongside Bette Davis in Dark Victory (1939).
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