John Forbes was all heart

He loved the simple country life but could mix it in the halls of power.

Above all, he loved helping people.

It was sad to hear of his death at the weekend, apparently after falling into the creek at his Mitiamo property, where a neighbour found him.

John was 79 years old.

“He was as tough as old boots and always wanted to die on Forbes land — Mitiamo — and he did. So that’s something,” his old mate Geoff Wilkinson said.

Wilko, a terrific crime reporter and later Victoria Police media boss, could tell a story or three.

As national marketing manager for Puma for more than 20 years, John Forbes became known as “Mr Puma”.

He was a dab hand at marketing and promotion, and he used his connections for good.

He started the Blue Ribbon Foundation because he thought police who lost their lives in the community’s service deserved better.

He also worked at the opposite end of the spectrum.

As a 20-something in the late 1980s I went to prison.

Whenever I mucked up as a kid, Dad would say this was where I would end up if I didn’t shape up, and here I was, within the high bluestone walls of the infamous Pentridge Prison.

“Mr Puma” sent me down, along with a bunch of sporting stars and other well-known people from regional areas.

The sentence was short, just long enough to compete in the annual sports day.

We were all getting a “buddy for the day”, but mine, a kid I knew from school days, ran off when he saw me. Any thoughts of asking why he killed a man during a burglary were out the window.

Instead, I got a nice enough drug smuggler and a fearsome-looking bloke by the name of Paul Mallinder.

He was a nasty type who shot Kay Nesbit in the face at close range. She lost her jaw, had 57 facial reconstruction operations and became a powerful advocate for victim’s rights.

He had plenty of time to do weights, which was handy on this particular day.

Running events, weightlifting, basketball, boxing and swimming were the chosen sports.

Thankfully, Dave Russell, a hilarious man for a heavyweight boxing champion, took on all comers in the ring.

That left swimming in the small and crusty looking pool as the major hurdle.

“Don’t worry, the swimming always gets cancelled,” Mr Puma reassured us.

It was, and we all escaped at the end of the day to the pub across the road.

As John’s health failed him, he battled on, even turning a testimonial cricket match into a fundraiser for one of his favourite causes rather than himself.

Former Australian cricketer Merv Hughes tells the story of getting proper shoes from Mr Puma as a kid.

Years later, when he was entertaining fans and terrorising the world’s best batsmen, he was offered a big-money deal from another shoemaker.

“Where were you when I didn’t have any proper boots?” he said.

Swervin’ Merv stuck with Puma, and he stuck with Mr Puma; everyone did.

That’s because John Forbes stuck by everyone. We will all miss him.