Former high-profile Australian lawyer and politician Tom Hughes AO KC has died two days after his 101st birthday.
His daughter Lucy Turnbull, wife of former Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull, shared a heartwarming tribute to her father after his death at around midday on Thursday.
‘Farewell to a wonderful father. What an incredibly long and good life,” she wrote online.
Hughes obtained a law degree from the University of Sydney in 1941 after graduating from St Ignatius’ College.
But instead of going straight to work, Hughes joined the Royal Australian Air Force and was awarded the French Legion of Honor for his services in World War II.
He was admitted as a barrister in 1949 and was appointed Queen’s Counsel in 1962.
Several high-profile defamation cases have been led by the legal superhero, including those against NRL legend Andrew Ettingshausen and the late stockbroker Rene Rivkin.
Mr. Hughes was also a respected leader in commercial and constitutional law.
Former high-profile lawyer and politician Tom Hughes AO KC (photo) has died at the age of 101
Tom Hughes’ daughter Lucy Turnbull, wife of former Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull, said goodbye to her father on Thursday. Pictured Lucy and Malcolm Turnbull with their family and Mr and Mrs Hughes outside Government House in 2015
Hughes was elected to Federal Parliament in 1963 with his young daughter Lucy by his side.
He was member for Parkes and later Berowra under the Liberal Party, and attorney general in the Gorton government.
Close friend and former Prime Minister John Howard worked as Hughes’ campaign manager for the seat of Parkes.
Howard described the election as a “very dramatic campaign… punctuated by the assassination of [US] President Kennedy,” and “we had an extraordinary victory,” he told the paper Sydney Morning Herald.
Hughes ended his political career in 1972 and “returned to the bar with a vengeance” and “built a huge practice.”
Tom Hughes died two days after his 101st birthday. He is pictured with his daughter Lucy Turnbull and son-in-law, and then Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull, at the Australian War Memorial in Canberra in 2016
NSW Chief Justice Andrew Bell described Hughes as “one of the finest trial lawyers and advocates in the history of our country” and “simply an icon of the Australian legal profession”.
Howard said of Hughes, “He kept a lively spirit to the end.”
He retired from legal practice in 2013, just before his 90th birthday, and on his 100th birthday proudly clutched a cricket bat and said “100 not out,” a nod to the time he waved a cricket bat at anti-conscription protesters outside his house during the Vietnam War in 1970.
Hughes’ biographer, Ian Hancock, described the legal genius as “probably the last of his kind.”
“He taught himself watching other lawyers. “He had four careers: he was a farmer, an aviator, a lawyer and a politician,” he said.
NSW Chief Justice Andrew Bell described Hughes (pictured with his portrait in 2004) as ‘one of the finest trial lawyers and advocates in the history of our country’
Hughes was considered a leader of the NSW Bar for about 30 years and “charged the highest fees”, Mr Hancock said.
Howard praised Hughes for accomplishing “a hell of a lot” during his time as attorney general between November 1969 and March 1971 – including his work on the Concrete Pipes case, which interpreted corporate power under the Constitution.
“That interpretation has allowed the Commonwealth to control and regulate most of Australia’s business and economic life and much of its social life,” former Supreme Court Justice Michael McHugh said in 2005.
Hughes is survived by his wife Christine, his children Lucy, Tom and Michael, and their families.