The Industry, at large, has lost a very important man as Bill Galvin OAM – William R Galvin OAM – passed away a couple of weeks ago; he’d had an enormous input into the Industry in so many ways that it is impossible to separate out which part of the business he influenced mostly.
I first met Bill in 1970 at East Sydney Food School where I went to study catering in a three- year certificate course – it was there I met so many other people that became mates and my great mentor Grahame Latham OAM.
Back to Bill, I then worked with him at Ryde College of TAFE in the 1980ies and it made me think that so many, if not all, of my many friends and mates, have come from being in contact with them by working with them in some part of the Hospitality Industry. It is a truism that we form such good relationships with people with whom we work.
To me, Bill was always a mate and was very supportive of me in my early career both in teaching and in the media. Thank you, Bill, for all you have done for the Industry, for HTN and for me personally. With HTN, Bill has organized the return flight tickets with QANTAS for the winner of the Peter Howard Culinary Scholarship since its inception. There is only one Bill Galvin OAM – we will miss you, old mate.
Before I started writing this, I sent off a number of emails to mates and friends I have met throughout the years. The only schoolmate I know from 1960 is in New York City and so I will stay with him while I am there in the upcoming visit in June. Other mates there include so many people from when I worked the G’Day USA promotion – buddies from the catering company we used there called Food for Thought; Marlene Poynder from the Park Hyatt on the Harbour who is now the GM in an international Hotel there and then, from my days in the 1990ies of promoting Australian Lamb at the National Restaurant Association show in Chicago for 5 years, my boss -Frances Cassidy.
And so, I could go on but it only reminds me that our mates, our friends and associates mostly come from the places we have worked in and do work in during our journey in this marvellous world of cooking. Somehow, we have so much to talk about as we stop working and that is the fascinating part of being involved in the Industry.
By Peter Howard AM