Parramatta lawyer Chris Jurd dies aged 73

Tributes have flooded in for a ‘super intelligent’ lawyer, Parramatta Eels board member and cricket tragic who lost his long battle with cancer.

Parramatta Eels life member, father, prominent solicitor and sharp-minded Chris Jurd has died aged 73 after a battle with cancer.

Mr Jurd died in the Mt Druitt Hospital palliative care unit on June 24 after enduring multiple types of cancer for more than 20 years.

Just two months earlier, in March, he was elected a Parramatta Leagues Club life member for his outstanding and distinguished services to the club, as well as the Parramatta National Rugby Leagues Club as a director and player advocate.

Demonstrating a passion for helping others, the Baulkham Hills man spent nine years as president of the Toongabbie Legal Centre and provided legal advice to drop-in clients and established systems for legal training for practitioners and student volunteers.

“Chris was dedicated, conscientious, much-loved and respected,’’ a statement released by Parramatta Leagues Club said.

Parramatta Eels life member and solicitor Chris Jurd has died. Picture: Facebook

“His service to Parramatta Leagues Club was tremendous. What a debt of gratitude we owe to our founding and life members. We stand on the shoulders of giants.”

His wife of 22 years, Margaret Jurd, said he was adored by his five grandchildren.

“He was an honest, genuine person,’’ she said.

“You knew where you stood with him.

“Ten years ago they said ‘Chris there’s nothing else we can do for your cancer’ and they put him on a new drug and we’ve been through the ups and downs for 10 years but he never gave up and never, ever complained. He complained about a lot of things in life but he never complained about treatments or anything with the cancer.’’

Former Eels CEO Denis Fitzgerald has paid tribute to his good friend ChrisJurd. Picture: Jonathan Ng

Former Parramatta player and chief executive officer, Denis Fitzgerald, knew Mr Jurd for 55 years and will deliver a eulogy at his funeral at Castlebrook Memorial Park, Rouse Hill, on Friday.

The mates met as students at St Patrick’s Primary School, Parramatta, where Mr Fitzgerald was two years younger than Mr Jurd. They crossed paths with Parramatta Marist Junior Rugby League where Mr Fitzgerald was the vice president and Mr Jurd was secretary before working together in the NRL.

He described him as “very intelligent, very loyal’’.

“He had an amazing memory for sporting records, especially cricket more so than rugby league, and a very good friend,’’ Mr Fitzgerald said.

“He was never the sports person himself. He loved sport but didn’t quite have the ability.’’

As a skilled high school debater, Mr Jurd’s legal ability developed as a solicitor and he represented many players for free at the NSW Rugby League judiciary.

“That was very handy when he had such a good understanding of the charges and that he knew, at least casually, most of the players so he gave up a lot of his own time to do that and quite successfully so it helped the club from that point of view,’’ Mr Fitzgerald said.

Dr Graham Malouf, who went to Parramatta Marist High School with Mr Jurd, also described him as a “super intelligent”.

“He was the only person who could speak fluently in Latin,’’ he said.

“He was an extremely intelligent man.

“He knew every cricket statistic you could ever hope to know.

“He was super intelligent. He had a knack for statistics, in particular cricket statistics.’’

Mr Jurd came was the eldest of eight children and grew up on the Great Western Highway at Parramatta.

“His father was a solicitor and drove a Rolls Royce around Parramatta,’’ Dr Malouf recalled.

Tributes were also expressed online.

David McFadden praised his fellow class-of-1964 friend.

“Chris had been quite ill for some years but bore it stoically and with a philosophic attitude to it all,’’ he wrote.

School friend Terry Wilkins renewed his friendship with Mr Jurd through Facebook.

“Chris was like a sophisticated 43-year-old intellectual with a rapier wit although we were callow teenagers,’’ he said.

“I liked The Beatles and he liked The Beach Boys. The jump forward half a century had Chris pretty much the same guy I knew in high school but with a distinguished career in law.

“Chris was one of the more delightful characters that I have ever met both in my youth and in my senior years.’’

Mr Jurd is survived by his mother Rona, seven siblings, wife Margaret, his daughter Anita and five grandchildren.

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