Wollongong Citizen of the Year and former Greenacres chief executive Neil Preston has died.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
The much-loved disability champion, 70, was killed when his motorcycle left the road near Bungendore on Wednesday.
He had been out riding with a friend and was heading home after lunch when it is thought a medical incident occurred.
His family told the Mercury they were still coming to terms with the sudden loss, but wanted to make the news public because of his high regard within the community.
Speaking on behalf of the family, Mr Preston’s son-in-law David Tolman said he was a hero to them all and a grandfather, father and husband who gave himself equally to everyone.
“He had such a soft heart and genuine love for people, Mr Tolman said.
“He was also tenacious and fairly single-minded in the way he went after things that he believed were right.”
Read more: Wollongong heroes honoured
In 2014, Mr Preston was named Wollongong Citizen of the Year for his contribution to the community and countless people with disabilities. He has also been awarded an OAM.
Mr Tolman said he encouraged adventure and for them to live life to its fullest.
Mr Preston had recently booked a family trip to the Milford Track in what has been a very active retirement since 2011.
“He was a driving force at Kanahooka Men’s Shed, and he was the much loved Poppy of the Southern Cross Kids Camp programs held at The Tops for children at risk,” Mr Tolman said.
Just last week Mr Preston took the family of a late friend up to a memorial and presented a plaque to be placed in their memory.
“There are umpteen stories like that. He was always continuing to give to people in that kind of way,” Mr Tolman said.
Mr Preston is so highly regarded in political circles as a lobbyist that Prime Minister Julia Gillard wrote a letter acknowledging the contribution he made to people with disabilities and their families which was read at his farewell in late 2011.
There were also messages from Bill Shorten and Kristina Keneally.
Mr Preston is survived by his wife Carol Preston, children Adam Preston and Tammy Tolman and four grandchildren.
A funeral for Mr Preston will likely be next week.
Tributes to Neil Preston:
Illawarra Business Chamber president Janine Cullen worked with Neil Preston at Illawarra Electricity and is a former board member of Greenacres.
“Neil was not only my work colleague of the last 35 years but a very dear friend,” Mrs Cullen said.
“He was truly a wonderful person, who lived and loved life every day. I truly can’t think of anyone I admire more for their generosity of spirit, sense of adventure, sincerity and warmth and great sense of humour”.
Greenacres chairman Richard Young said it was an impossible task to adequately express what Neil Preston has done for all people with a disability.
“When he joined Greenacres he had never worked with people a disability but we just had a good feeling about him,” he said.
“With the clients and supported staff he knew all their names, their birthdays, what their favourite sporting teams were, their favourite TV shows were and what they did on weekends. He was very passionate about the business and the people who worked there. He managed to find the perfect balance between the business and the people the business supported. He not only had the passion but an empathy for people with disabilities. He had a strategic vision for Greenacres. He took it from a small organisation to the forefront of disability services not only in NSW but all over Australia.”
When he arrived at Greenacres in 1995, it owned one property, employed 200 clients and was running at a loss. When he retired in 2011 it was helping 1000 clients, operated 34 services from 30 sites, and had a multi-million dollar turnover.
Mr Young said he also knew how to fight for people with disabilities and it s was hard to fathom how many lives he positively impacted.
“We always thought he was like Steve Irwin for the way he got hold of politicians. If they saw Neil Preston they took off. He was always fighting for people with a disability.
Friend Susan Burns worked with Neil Preston during his entire time at Greenacres and said even the department used to call him Steve Irwin because of the way he would crouch down and go looking for officials or politicians at conferences and events.
Ms Burns did something special at Greenacres when she heard the news.
Every day at morning tea he was known to have a packet of yogurt and a banana and for lunch he would have vegemite sandwiches. So she went into Greenacres on Thursday morning and everyone had yogurt and vegemite sandwiches in his memory.
“Neil made a stupendous speech at my own farewell,” she said.
“It is a dreaful loss for all of us. Everyone loved him. I am 73 and have worked in a lot of jobs. I would have to say Neil is the best CEO I have every worked for. He was a great leader. When he left Greenacres is was just thriving. He would encourage his staff all the way. He made everyone feel important and not matter what your job was in the organisation you were important”.
Ms Burns said one friend described him as the most complete person they had ever met because of his faith, his focus on family and how lovely he was to everyone he met.
But he was also very determined.
Ms Burns said he helped people feel confident to have ideas and have a crack at them. He encouraged people to use their initiative and he would support you and held them.
And from little experience with people with a disability before starting at Greenacres he developed a great advocate for the entire sector.
Retirement story in 2011
Disability advocate to leave the job he loves
AN engineer who became one of Australia's greatest disability sector advocates announced his retirement this week.
Greenacres Disability Services chief executive Neil Preston OAM will retire in just over a month and head to Antarctica and South America to unwind after 48 years of work.
Mr Preston worked for Illawarra Electricity for 32 years, after starting as a 16-year-old cadet engineer, and worked his way up to role of chief engineer.
He took on the role of CEO at Greenacres 16 years ago, at a time when the Illawarra's oldest local charity had not had a chief executive for two years.
Since then, Mr Preston has helped Greenacres become a nationally recognised service, developing new programs for Australia's disability sector.
His goal has always been to improve quality of life for people with disabilities.
Early in his tenure, Mr Preston created a two-pronged system of improving processes in many areas - where common sense suggested an alternative approach, it was taken, and when needed, trials were implemented to find new solutions.
"I love the challenge of seeing something that is not right or something that could be better and taking the bull by the horns and going to the Government and saying how we can make things work," Mr Preston said.
Greenacres' initiatives have included:
■ Establishing the first transition-to-work program of its kind in NSW, which now has a 72 per cent success rate and has helped 138 young people in the Illawarra gain employment.
■ Writing papers on how people in supported employment could retire with dignity, resulting in a retirement program trial that became the only fully-funded pilot of its type in Australia.
■ Developing a competency-based wage assessment tool that is now used by more than 35 organisations.
In 2010, Mr Preston was one of only two Australian CEOs asked to sit on a national committee to prepare a 10-year vision for disability enterprises and people working in supported employment.
Mr Preston said he will miss the close relationships and daily interaction with the people who work at Greenacres, all of whom he knows by name.