WAYS chief executive Russell King dies aged 64
A community is in mourning following the death of a non-profit leader who touched tens of thousands of lives.
Wentworth Courier
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A community leader who has touched the lives of tens of thousands of young people has died.
WAYS chief executive Russell King, who was this year celebrating his 30th year at the Bondi organisation, was 64.
On hearing of Mr King’s death, the Bondi Surf Club lowered their flag in his honour.
He passed away on Saturday morning following a battle with an unspecified cancer, diagnosed in May this year.
WAYS Youth and Family offers an alternative high school for students in years 9 to 12, and wide-ranging youth and family services such as counselling, specialist education workshops, vocational youth training and after school care.
The feeling among students and staff at WAYS Secondary school in Bondi Beach was solemn on Monday.
The school will be closed on Friday October 25 for his funeral.
A Maori man from Christchurch, Mr King moved to Sydney to study economics at the University of Sydney, but remained a big part of Sydney’s Maori community.
He leaves behind his wife Sallie and 18-year-old daughter Kerianna.
Mrs King said that he was loved, respected and admired by many but in his humbleness did not realise the impact he had on people’s lives.
WAYS President Leo Wassercug, who shared Mr King’s 30 year tenure, said he was “a man small in stature but a giant of a man with a giant heart”.
“He was driven by compassion and care for young people. (He) saw there was a better way and an opportunity to offer young people a much better chance in life,” Mr Wassercug said.
“That was the basic purpose (of WAYS) then and now. He saw an opportunity to maximise potential wherever he could,” Mr Wassercug said.
WAYS “grew enormously thanks to Russell’s vision and drive”.
The youth organisation began in a dilapidated council terrace in Bondi Junction and now offers a range of youth services from a purpose-built facility for at-risk and anxious kids from Waverley, Woollahra, Randwick and Bayside local council areas.
At the end of this year WAYS Secondary school will have graduated four classes through the HSC.
Mr Wassercug called it Mr King’s “crowning piece”.
Mr Wassercug said King was proud of the very high attendance record at the school.
“Many of our kids came back to education after they decided it wasn’t for them,” he said.
“Although he spent lots of time in admin and funding and fundraising, he had an interaction with kids every day of his working life and always made himself available”.
But Mr King’s contribution at WAYS extended much further than the secondary school, with free youth spaces and a wellness centre.
“Over 30 years he’s touched the lives of several tens of thousands of young people aged between nine and 24.”
Gabrielle Upton MP worked with Mr King extensively, “sharing his journey” in her more than eight years as Vaucluse MP.
In 2017, she awarded Mr King with a Premier’s Community Services Award for his years of work with local youth, calling him an “incredibly passionate and committed youth worker”.
“It’s a huge loss. He was an extraordinary man,” she said.
“He was a quiet leader, considered, generous, very focused, everybody warmed to him. He was committed to the job.
“The power of what he was doing — educating our youth who need a helping hand, who might otherwise fall out of school. They can come and learn on their own terms.”
The funeral service for Mr King will be held at 11am at the Sydney Maori Anglican Fellowship in Redfern.
It will be followed at 1.30pm by a wake at the WAYS Bondi Beach HQ, at 63A Wairoa Ave, North Bondi.
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