Condolences
May 2, 2014, 12:00 PM | Updated: 12:00 pm
Tony the Tiger is dead.
I wish I didn’t have to bring you that kind of news so abruptly, but I thought you should know.
Now, the character that represented Kellogg’s Frosted Flakes cereal will certainly continue to sell the product. But, to me, I don’t think he will ever sound the same again.
You see, my friend, Lee Marshall, passed away last Sunday and he was the voice of Tony the Tiger; he has been since 1995.
When Lee and I first met, his booming bass voice wasn’t hawking breakfast food. He was my newsman on KRIZ, a Phoenix rock station, back in the ’60s. From there, his extraordinary vocal skills took him to Los Angeles and much of Southern California.
His remembrances on the Internet have been overwhelmingly from the loyal audience he garnered as a professional wrestling announcer. We reminisced a few months ago at a radio reunion he put together.
Lee Marshall — Tony the Tiger — gone at 67. How would I describe him…simply grrreaaat!
I’m Pat McMahon.
