A well-known stockbroker and tennis player has died at just 55 years old.
Tony Cunningham, co-founder of brokerage firm CPS Capital and promoter of trading gossip site HotCopper, was found dead in south Perth on Sunday.
He leaves behind his wife, prominent Perth estate agent Natalie Snooks. The cause of her death has not yet been made public.
Cunningham co-founded CPS Capital with Jason Peterson and Paul Sharbanee in 2001.
However, he left the company and sold his stake to work at one of its competitors, Subiaco-based Barclay Wells, in February last year.
Well-known stockbroker and tennis player Tony Cunningham (pictured) has died aged 55.
He remained at Barclay Wells for about a year before joining West Perth-based RM Capital.
Police are not treating Mr Cunningham’s death as suspicious and will prepare a report for the coroner.
Cunningham was also well known on the Western Australian tennis scene and gained life membership of the UWA Tennis Club in 2022.
The club paid tribute to him this Tuesday.
“It is with great sadness that we learn of the passing of Tony Cunningham,” it said.
‘Tony has been a member of the UWA Tennis Club since his student days at the University of Western Australia and was instrumental in the resurrection of the club in recent times.
“As president of UWA TC from 2001 to 2003, Tony was instrumental in raising the $1.2 million needed to fund the club’s new clubhouse, parking lot and six clay courts.”
Mr Cunningham’s tennis skills earned him a Division I American scholarship to the University of Nebraska and he continued to play “high level tennis” once he returned home to WA.
Police are not treating Mr Cunningham’s (pictured) death as suspicious and will prepare a report for the coroner.
Cunningham leaves behind his wife, prominent Perth estate agent Natalie Snooks (pictured)
“He had a lifelong passion for both the UWA Tennis Club and tennis in general and had served on the board of Tennis West since 2019,” the club said.
“As a regular pennant competitor and proud supporter of the Club, we would like to acknowledge that without Tony’s contributions, UWA TC would not be in the position it is now.”
Mr Cunningham studied at Coolbinia Primary School and Trinity College before going to the University of Western Australia.
He used his sport and social networks to successfully build a career as a stockbroker and business promoter, beginning with the founding of DJ Carmichael in the early 1990s.
In 1995, Cunningham bought a stake in HotCopper from founder Ron Gully and worked as a chat moderator.
Mr Cunningham’s tennis skills (pictured) earned him a Division I American scholarship to the University of Nebraska and he continued to play “high level tennis” once he returned home to WA.
He compared business discussions on the site to “pub conversations” that had the power to influence thousands of dollars.
“Day traders will buy stocks because that’s what is mentioned on the forums and sell them at the end of the same day,” he said. The West in 1999.
HotCopper investors made good profits when the platform was bought by Melbourne-based Bourse Data.
The website changed hands several more times before Cunningham repurchased it and floated it again in 2016.
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