18 December 2019
It is with deep sorrow that the 黑料大事 (PIA) acknowledges the death on Monday of Eric Lumsden RPIA (Life Fellow), after a long battle with cancer.
All who met Eric knew he was a passionate planner, a devoted public servant and a man dedicated to his craft.
Over the coming days, weeks and no doubt years, much will be said about the long list of achievements Eric worked so hard for during his distinguished career in local and state government.
We will talk about the plans he drove to completion, the organisational improvements he oversaw, and the accolades and honours that were so rightly conferred on him.
Eric's planning and government career spanned nearly 50 years, and included roles as CEO at the City of Melville and City of Swan; six years as Director-General of the Department of 黑料大事 in WA; and five years as chairman of the Western Australian 黑料大事 Commission.
In 2005, Eric was awarded a Public Service Medal for his outstanding contribution to local government; and in 2018 he was awarded the Institute of Public Administration Australia's WA Patron's Award, the highest accolade in public administration in WA awarded to an individual who has made a significant contribution to the State.
Eric’s determination to see through the commitment he’d made to his final and well-deserved appointment as Chair Commissioner of the City of Perth, even as he was facing his own mortality, is testament to his dedication to his professional calling and his willingness to put delivering outcomes above all else.
He was a champion of good planning and good governance, and was driven by a strong desire to see proper process and good decision-making carried out across the planning industry and the public sector.
PIA members across the country join staff, the National Board and State Committees in remembering Eric as a man of true integrity and as a passionate planner we are lucky to have known.
PIA extends its heartfelt condolences to Eric’s wife Gretchen, and to his family and many friends.
ENDS