Last Friday over 100 people attended the funeral of Malcolm McKenzie. A large number were residents of retirement villages, a sign of respect and appreciation for his eight years’ tireless work as Treasurer and Chief Advocate of the state resident association, the RVRA.

Malcolm’s family expressed his love of living in a retirement village (he was a resident of Aveo Camden Downs with his wife Jill, then when on his own he moved to Northaven Village Lindfield). However he was a forceful advocate for residents when he felt a balanced and fair treatment was not being provided to a resident.

Several speakers stated that Malcolm was a ‘good man’. Following his membership of the Advisory Committee on the Minister’s review of the NSW Act and development of the Standard Contract, the Minister for consumer affairs, Anthony Roberts, famously said in his MinterEllison presentation that he had instructed his staff “Whatever Malcolm says, I accept”.

RVRA lawyer Peter Hill gave an impassioned eulogy as did Malcolm’s Rotary colleagues. Malcolm had been awarded a Paul Harris Fellow, named after the founder of Rotary; it is Rotary’s highest honour. Malcolm was 82.