Beauty And The Beast panel included Maureen Duval, second right.
One of Australian television's grand dames, the former model, TV personality and breakfast television pioneer Maureen Duval, has died.
Duval, who was also a popular member of the daytime panel show Beauty And The Beast, passed away today with husband Patrick, and sons Patrick and Julian by her side.
Class never goes out of style and Maureen Duval certainly never did. That will be her legacy.
Two other sons, Michael and Rohan, are with their families overseas. They are making plans to return to Australia this week.
Duval was admitted to Royal North Shore Private Hospital earlier this year with a prolonged illness.
A statuesque woman, with a shock of fair hair and a confident manner, Duval was considered one of original grand dames of Australian television.
A successful model in the 1960s - and a contemporary of other famous models of the time, including Maggie Tabberer, Joan Cordell and Maggi Eckardt - Duval shot to prominence when she won the Miss Australia pageant.
One of Australia's 'Beauties' ... Maureen Duval died in hospital from an ongoing illness.
For more than 16 years during the 1970s and 1980s Duval was the public face of the iconic department store, David Jones.
As the department store's first "ambassador", she paved the way for American model Lauren Hutton and Australian models Megan Gale and Miranda Kerr, who followed her into the role.
David Jones group marketing executive Sacha Laing said Duval would be forever etched into the store's history.
"We are deeply saddened to hear the news of Maureen Duval's passing," Laing said. "Maureen was an exceptional talent and wonderful person and will forever remain a part of the David Jones family and history.
"All at David Jones extend their deepest sympathies to Maureen's family during this difficult time."
Between 1978 and 1989 she hosted the Ten Network's morning magazine program, Good Morning Sydney.
The program, filmed at Ten's then-studio in North Ryde, was a trailblazer in the daytime TV genre and a precursor to the current generation of daytime talkies, including Sunrise, Today and the now-defunct Good Morning Australia.
Later in her career she returned to television as one of the panellists on Foxtel's hit discussion program, Beauty And The Beast.
On that program she worked with a range of high-profile personalities, including host Stan Zemanek and fellow panellists media icon Ita Buttrose, Les Girls icon Carlotta, journalist Jo Casamento, former model and TV personality Charlotte Dawson, variety icon Jeanne Little, publicity maven Prue MacSween, activist Jan Murray, and fashion icon Maggie Tabberer.
Foxtel's director of television Brian Walsh paid tribute to Duval, describing her as a pioneer for women on television who set high standards of professionalism.
"Maureen Duval was unmatched for integrity, dignity and style," Walsh said. "Her warm and generous humour was her trademark, as was her humility and compassion.
"I had the great pleasure of working with her at Channel Ten in the 1980s when she hosted Good Morning Sydney and later, at Foxtel, she was one of my first choices to re-launch the panel talk show Beauty And The Beast.
"Maureen was the moral compass of the series and always delivered sober and sensible advice in what was often, a bunker of heated debate.
"Class never goes out of style and Maureen Duval certainly never did. That will be her legacy," Mr Walsh said.
Married to lawyer Patrick Delany for five decades, Duval was a mother to four sons on whom she famously doted: Patrick, Michael, Rowan and Jules.
Patrick is now the CEO of Fox Sports. Michael was an elite swimmer, and a famed member of the silver Olympic medal-winning swimming team, the "Mean Machine", and now works in the finance sector. Rowan works in media sales. Julian is general manager of the News Limited-owned website news.com.au.
She is survived by her husband, her four sons and 10 grand-children.
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