Athol Earl, a teammate of Dickie's in the medal-winning eight in 1972 and 1976, remembered Dickie as a "larger than life personality."
"He had belief in himself, he had belief in those around him, he had the confidence to drag you with him really - he was just a super confident guy who you couldn't help but look up to," Earl told Radio Sport.
Earl recalled Dickie as being one of the coxswains who was respected by all the rowers he worked alongside.
"He commanded that mana, he commanded that respect, he had the ability to read a race and make little tweaks to race plans as they were needed.
"He had that unique ability - I've had many good coxswains but none that came near Simon."
Earl admits that the death came as a shock, with Dickie having been busy with planning and taking part in reunions over the past few days.
"Yesterday he was having a reunion with the Mexico four, and Simon was a superb host. The overall groups of that era are still pretty tight - we were planning our next reunion for the Halberg Awards - plenty of emails going back and forth over the past few days of which Simon was a part of."
Dickie is one of just 12 New Zealanders to have won three or more medals at the Olympic Games.
