Noel Niddrie

If the best we can hope for in our three score and ten is to make a difference, the world having been better for our footsteps in the dirt, to be loved and admired, then Gavin Jones has overachieved.
As a contemporary colleague he was funny, warm, helpful and engaging. His goal was not to get the biggest slice of the pie, but rather to make the pie bigger for us all.

As a man, Gavin was big and generous. His personality, like his vision and ambition, was larger than life, infectious and inspiring. I once asked him if he’d ever consider moving from Sydney and living somewhere else. He looked disdainfully at my suggestion and asked rhetorically, and with more than a little dramatic flourish, “Look at me. I’m Gavin Jones! Where else would I live?” He was right. Only Australia’s biggest city could hold one of its biggest personalities.

I almost wish I hadn’t met Gavin Jones because I know what will be missing in the world when I wake tomorrow. But, whilst the loss is overwhelming, I know my life is richer for having been touched by this great man.
Vale Gavin. We all stand on your giant shoulders and look out to the future. Whilst the skies look grey today, we know the dawn will be bright thanks to you.

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