Sean spent almost forty years doing something he loved: bringing people together and helping young people get the most out of university life.

Sadly, Sean passed away on 19 August 2026, aged 57. He was a kind and joyful man who gave so much of his life to others, and he will be deeply missed.

His career took him through eight residential colleges across Australia: Flinders Hall (SA), Mary White College (NSW), St Albert’s College (NSW), John XXIII College (ACT), Mannix College (VIC), Aquinas College (SA), Trinity Residential College (WA), and most recently Wilam Hall (VIC).

Sean was also an active contributor to the peak associations representing residential education and student accommodation, including the National Association of Australian University Colleges (NAAUC), University Colleges Australia (UCA), and the Australasian Association of College & University Housing Officers (AACUHO), now the Asia-Pacific Student Accommodation Association (APSAA), where he served as President. In 2013, his contribution was recognised with the AACUHO Joe Massingham Meritorious Service Award for his outstanding service to the sector.

But if you knew Sean, you knew he was much more interested in people than titles.

He was warm, cheeky, generous and endlessly interested in others. He remembered you: your name, your story, where you came from, what you were studying, or some small detail from a conversation years before. He loved a good conversation and a laugh, and his friendships stretched across colleges, generations and the country.

Sean also spent his career opening doors for others. He mentored generations of young people and encouraged many to build careers in residential education themselves. Today, College Heads, Deputies and other leaders around Australia are former students, colleagues and mentees of Sean’s. His influence lives on not only in the thousands of students he supported directly, but through the many people he encouraged along the way.

Sean’s death has come far too soon.

We, Sean’s friends and former students, created this fundraiser as one practical way for the enormous community around Sean to support Sara, Nick and Alex in the weeks and months ahead. Funds raised will help ease some of the immediate costs and pressures facing his family.

There is absolutely no expectation to contribute. But if Sean was part of your life and you would like to support his legacy, any contribution, large or small, will be deeply appreciated.

We remember Sean with with enormous affection, gratitude and joy.

With much love for Sean and his family,

His friends and former students