Gerard Sutton, the University of Wollongong Vice-Chancellor, is the Illawarra Mercury Person of the Year.Today's announcement comes after a big year for Professor Sutton, symbolised this week by the first cohort of students to complete their course at the Graduate School of Medicine.Prof Sutton lobbied for the school for the good of the community as much as for the university."The University of Newcastle got the medical school in 1970 and if you compare the medical provision in Newcastle and Wollongong they are hugely different," he said."That's why we are pushing this health and medical precinct."Prof Sutton arrived in Wollongong as deputy vice-chancellor in 1990, intending to learn the job and move on within a few years.He accepted the university's top job in 1995 after falling in love with the region and intends to stay in his beachside house in Woonona after he retires in December next year.Mercury editor Stuart Howie said Prof Sutton was an obvious choice for the award."He is, without doubt, the most respected community leader in the Illawarra," he said."He always graciously acknowledges the crack team around him, but he has been the trailblazer. He is singularly reshaping the Illawarra - and he's a nice bloke to boot."Prof Sutton is the fifth recipient of the trophy, joining previous winners Gloria Swift, the Broadhead family, Reverend Gordon Bradbery and Arun Jagatramka.
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