Media Releases

Everyone at AIJAC is utterly devastated by the passing today of our beloved, widely admired and respected colleague Jeremy Jones AM, after an extended illness which he fought with great courage.

Jeremy has been an essential and irreplaceable part of AIJAC for some three decades, ever since he was the founding head of our Sydney office in 1993 – an office he has steered with such distinction and determination ever since. AIJAC is proud to have also helped facilitate Jeremy’s ability over those years to assume numerous other public service roles across the wider Jewish community, multi-faith and multicultural Australia, in our national public life, and even the international arena – to the benefit of everyone who had the pleasure of working with him, including of course AIJAC.

Jeremy always brought an extraordinary level of knowledge and insight about Judaism, public life in Australia, philosophy and morality, and human nature into his work for AIJAC, for which we will always be grateful. He also had a personal warmth, a kindness for those in need, an eagerness to teach and debate, and a wicked wit, all of which will be profoundly missed by everyone who worked with or knew him.

He was a one-man rolodex and intelligence agency, who knew almost every person of importance in Australian politics, religious communities, the media and other areas of public life – and was almost universally liked and respected. His interfaith work, and personal warmth, also won him hundreds of friends, admirers and colleagues overseas – including in the most unlikely places.

We take some comfort from the immense legacy of service to the Australian Jewish community, to interfaith dialogue and to Australian society, that Jeremy leaves behind. It is a legacy built up through decades of hard work, dedication, integrity and inspirational leadership, and will continue to have a positive impact for decades to come.

We extend our deepest and most sincere condolences to Jeremy’s family members on their terrible loss.

Deeply saddened by the passing of our colleague, friend and, often, mentor, we can only fall back on Jewish tradition and say: May His Memory be a Blessing.

Mark Leibler AC
AIJAC National Chairman
 
Dr. Colin Rubenstein AM
Executive Director