Mr Herbert, who told pals he played rugby union for Australia in his youth, worked in the US for more than three decades before settling on Phuket.
He lived in a guesthouse near the Patong fire station and collapsed in the street nearby yesterday.
A popular figure who ran with the Hash House Harriers every weekend, he was also well known at the Expat Bar in Patong.
One of his many friends, veteran Australian journalist Phil Teese, said: ''Greg was a really good bloke. He will be missed.''
It's thought that his death was probably caused by a heart attack. His body was taken to Patong Hospital after he collapsed about 11am.
Funeral arrangements have yet to be announced.
The following obituary has been posted on the Phuket Hash House Harriers' site:
'A Charming Character In A Colorful Life'
Greg Herbert, my dear friend, was blessed to live in an era that allowed him to live an adventurous life on a global scale. Having known great fame, the low ebb of poverty and just about all else in between, he strode forth with the confident, contented charm of a genuine gentleman who treated despair with disdain and exuded humble equanimity through it all.
Greg Herbert - Super Male Model Extraordinaire! 1966 & 2015
A life-long bachelor with no issues, Greg was a world-class sportsman, a pioneer in his professional life as a male supermodel and a consummate ladies' man.
Invited to play with Australia's rugby union national team, the Wallabies, in 1960 at the tender age of 20 as a member of the Northern Suburbs Rugby Club of Sydney, Australia, he went on to play for two counties in the UK and for the Rosslyn Park Rugby Club in the early 1960's. He also tried out for the New York Giants NFL team in 1966.
On the forefront of the avant-garde male modeling scene springing from the 1960's, he worked for over 40 years in the haute-couture trade of London, Paris, New York and Los Angeles.
The epitome of charisma and a strapping (6'4", 220 lbs.), handsome guy working with the world's top fashion models, women loved his company and often swooned to the lilt of his 'je ne sais quoi'.
Greg liked to admit in a mirthful, self-deprecatory manner, "I dated lots of beautiful women because I was one of the few straight male models who was lucky to come along just when bikini-brief male underwear hit the scene" - 'Gay Cowboy' (not!) indeed!
He was boyfriend to both Jean Shrimpton (an icon of Swinging London in the 1960's and one of the first supermodels) and Mandy Rice-Davies (prior to her role in the Profumo UK Governmental Scandal of 1963).
A 'wink and a nod' to you, Greg, there at the Big ON ON In The Sky and Beyond . . . !
"Farewell Old Friend; You'll be sorely missed, yet in the fullness of time, grief will pass, sadness will fade and only fond memories shall endure . . . "
Heath Norris (Na Hee Man)
September 6, 2015
Greg was a real "chick magnet".At one stage, he had so many women chasing him, he went out and bought a pair of ladies shoes which he would leave outside his door when he wanted a quiet night. The theory was, any girl who came to 'visit" would see the shoes and assume he had another woman with him, and leave. RIP Digger. You'll be missed by many.
Posted by Phil on September 7, 2015 18:51