This is a listing of notifications the Parramatta Marist Old Boys Union has received of the passing of Old Boys. “Vale” is latin for farewell and “Fortior Ito” means go forward with strength.
Click on the Old Boy’s Name for further details and a brief biography.
If we do not have the date of passing then the last day of the known month or year is used.
Please use the comments section at the bottom of the page or the contact form on this website to provide further details.
You can search surnames alphabetically. Click Clear Search on the right-hand side to return to the complete list
The tables immediately below are sorted by Class Year and Year of Passing respectively.
Sorted by Class Year, latest to earliest
Sorted by year of passing, latest to earliest.
Don Andrews, 1951
Biographical Info
Don Andrews passed away in 2015. Don was a well-respected Old Boy who was a terrific supporter of the OBU – a regular at our Annual Dinner and ‘organiser’ of the Class of 1951. We extend our condolences to his son Gary (Class of 1976), and to his family and extended family (especially those at Royans )
From National Road Transport Hall of Fame (2017)
“Initially repairing cars, the Royans business commenced truck accident repairs following approaches from insurance assessors and companies who were frustrated at the time taken to repair trucks. In those days 3-12 months was the standard. The company was able to reduce this to a few weeks and business soon flourished.
In 1970 the decision was made to focus solely on trucks and they moved to a much larger premises in Parramatta Road Granville. It was not unusual to have 5 trucks awaiting repairs on a Monday morning.
Growth followed quickly with Ron and his partner Don Andrews investing heavily in expanding their operations.
The first regional branch was created with the opening of Royans Wagga in 1980. In 1983 the company unveiled its first purpose built facility in Dubbo, opened by the then Premier Neville Wran.
The first interstate facility was opened in 1984 in Melbourne when Ron and Don partnered with Brian Church to create Royans Melbourne. A great family partnership now more than 30 years strong. Royans Brisbane opened in 1997 in Wacol and in 2002 the business purchased O’Neill’s Truck Repairs in Newcastle, another family business with a strong reputation and history.
Today the Royan Group consists of 6 fully equipped truck and trailer repair facilities Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Wagga, Dubbo and Newcastle, along with Trucking Supplies in Wagga and is the largest commercial vehicle accident repair business in the country.
2018 will mark 75 years in business for the Royans and the business is in a strong position today thanks to the investment in property, plant and equipment, technology and great staff by Ron, Don and Brian, a far cry from the early days in a wood and coal yard in Parramatta.
Chris was a good friend when I attended parramatta Marist. I used to run into him around the courts, he never seemed to change always a gentleman.
I’ve got Vale John Cassidy’s picture but how do I email it to you ????
Frank O’Sullivan
Vale John Cassidy LC 1962 Died 28th August 2019
John Cassidy and I worked on a religious organisation in our days at Marist Brothers Parramatta. It was to spread the message of Our Lady of Fatima that is, world peace through prayer, the Blue Army. It was a very strange coincidence that it was one of Cardinal Gilroy’s pet projects, but we didn’t know that at the time. The cardinal had set the organisation up in Sydney under Professor F G Coleman Sydney University and Father Cameron head of the Augustinian order in Sydney.
From 1959 – 1962 I did latin classes at St Mary’s Cathedral, late on Friday afternoon in preparation to enter, my studies for the priesthood. I ran into Cardinal Gilroy on many occasions as he did confessions 5pm to 6pm and I trapped him either going/coming in the presbytery grounds. So the long and short of it all is, that I dragged our John C along with me to say Hi and explain the difficulties we were having with Monsignor McGovern in conducting our Blue Army prayer meetings in St Pats at Parramatta. He smiled at us both & said would we from time to time give him a progress report on our work with the Blue Army. John and I had a few brief encounters with the cardinal & strangely we never had any further problems with the cranky old monsignor.
John Cassidy was a very humble man and would never have repeated this story but having been befriended by a cardinal, lived in a village named after the cardinal and being buried from the chapel on Friday 6th September 2019 that bears the cardinal’s name, I felt it appropriate to tell the story.
Frank O’Sullivan