The life of David Leckie – Seven West Media’s former chief executive, who died in July aged 70 – is to be commemorated by the David Leckie Seven Scholarship, announced today.

An annual programme set up in conjunction with his widow Skye and sons Harry and Ben offers a year’s scholarship at Seven West Media for a junior graduate “with a passion for sales, programming or news”.

Applications open in January and will be judged by Skye, Harry and Ben Leckie and senior Seven West Media executives. The successful applicant will start in March 2022.

In a statement they said Leckie’s passion in life was television, “from the time he joined GTV Melbourne as managing director, to his role as chief executive at TCN and then of Seven Network.

“He was never happier than when he was working in TV,” they said. “David had an innate ability to understand what Australians wanted to watch. He also loved working across sales and management. He always said he learnt a lot from his fellow executives at Seven and from all the staff, whom he held in very high regard.

“David was passionate about Seven and about media. We are thrilled that his legacy will live on at his beloved Seven and we would like to thank Kerry Stokes and James Warburton for recognising David and his talents in this way.”

They said that “despite his ‘bluff’,” they knew Leckie (pictured) would be “very, very chuffed to have this scholarship created in his honour and he would love the idea of giving a young person such a great start in the media industry.” 

Seven West Media managing director and chief executive officer James Warburton described him as a very good friend and a very talented media executive

“David was a great mentor and colleague to many of us at Seven and we miss him a lot. We wanted to find a way to honour his legacy and memory, and we believe the David Leckie Seven Scholarship Programme does that.

“David made an enormous contribution to Seven and to the media industry in general, and this annual program is a fantastic opportunity for someone who wants to learn, grow and become a leader of our industry.”

Further details are to be announced shortly.