Jeremy Mark Spinak, Jewish communal leader, businessman, politics aficionado, US Presidential history buff, husband, father – “Jez” to family and friends – passed away aged 36 just five months after diagnosis with pericardial mesothelioma, a phenomenally rare cancer associated with proximity to and inhalation of asbestos.
Born on 25 May 1982 to parents Richard and Margaret, whose own parents had escaped the Holocaust through migration from Poland and Germany, Jeremy grew up in the eastern suburbs, attending Woollahra Primary, then the Emanuel School, then the University of NSW where an early interest in politics and history was fine tuned. Precocious, jokey, sporty, Jeremy lived a balanced life – music, cricket, swimming, thinking; there was always something on the go.
His love of American political history led to a semester at Georgetown in Washington DC, and a first class honours degree in politics. Study led to curiosity and a keen interest in political involvement – including staff roles with NSW Treasurer Michael Costa and a brief stint as an intern at the office of Senator Tom Daschle, the then US Senate Democratic Majority Leader and as a volunteer on US Senator John Kerry’s campaign for President in 2004.
He moved into business, initially with EG Property, his own business and, from 2015, the Baiada Group – who were so supportive in the last pain-wracked year of his life.
Read the obituary by Michael Easson in The Sydney Morning Herald.