Vale Peter Williams, OAM

We are saddened to report that Canberra based humanist Peter Williams died of advanced prostate cancer aged 71 years on 11 May 2022.

Mary-Anne Cosgrove of the Canberra Humanist Community told us, “I met Peter and his husband Gryff in 2015, and worked alongside them to help rekindle the ACT Humanist Society. Peter was the founding Secretary of the new Society until he stepped down to focus on his health in 2019.”

Gryff wrote: “Peter’s health deteriorated rapidly in the last couple of months so he chose to end his life via voluntary assisted dying (VAD). He was surrounded by me, his two daughters and three close friends, where he was able to sit and talk to us individually, and for us to tell him our reflections and memories of him. It was a beautiful and calming experience. Unfortunately it doesn’t make the grief any easier.“

Peter’s memoir “My Divided Life” was published in 2020 and may be borrowed or read online through the National Library. In that same year Peter was awarded the Medal of the Order of Australia for service to community health, and to medical education.

Peter was a Professor of Nutrition and Dietetics, and has written on veganism for the Canberra Humanists (reprinted with Peter’s permission in Australian Humanist Magazine no 141.) Peter is remembered fondly by Mary-Anne and his friends in the Canberra Humanists Community.