Friends and colleagues farewell ‘much-loved’ former St Patrick’s College staff member Mark Waddington

A “completely selfless” staff member from St Patrick’s and St Virgil’s colleges has died after a long fight with cancer.

A “great man” who was “much-loved” by thousands of students across two states has died after a long fight with cancer.

Mark Waddington received a lung cancer diagnosis about two years ago and died on Thursday night.

He was the director of development and the director of boarding at St Patrick’s College Ballarat for ten years from 2002.

St Patrick’s football director and head of community engagement Howard Clark said Mr Waddington was intelligent, hardworking, and his “best mate”.

“He certainly was the most selfless, loving, gentle, kind man I’ve ever known,” he said.

Former St Patrick's College Ballarat director of development and director of boarding Mark Waddington receiving the school's Facere and Docere Award in 2022. Mr Waddington died from lung cancer this week. Picture: St Patrick's College

“He touched the hearts and the souls of each community he belonged to; we are all enriched because of his gentle guidance.

“I know that he was much-loved and an absolute giant within our community.”

Mr Waddington was, according to Mr Clark, a “significant architect” of St Patrick’s College’s sporting success in the past two decades, helping to transform the college into a football powerhouse.

“Back in 2002 when I took over as director of football, football was going through a transitional phase,” Mr Clark said.

“Boys weren’t committing to school football, and football at St Pat’s had hit a real junction.

“I remember the year I took over we were playing Ballarat College and halfway through the first quarter it was 75-0: we were zero.

“From that game, I said to Mark, ‘Mate, we need to do something about it.’

“Mark wrote a strategic plan that became a blueprint for our success … three years later we won our Herald Shield, and eight years later we were the number one school in Australia.”

Mr Clark was able to farewell his friend before his passing.

“I spoke to Mark every second or third day for 28 years,” Mr Clark said.

“I said goodbye to Mark yesterday.

“Jacinta [Mark’s wife] put the phone on loudspeaker, and I was able to say goodbye to Mark and thank him for the influence he’s had on me, and how much I loved him.

“The last words I said to him were, ‘I’ll continue to talk, and I know you’ll continue to listen.’

“He was like a brother and I love him unconditionally.”

Dr Peter Casey, who was principal at the school during Mr Waddington’s tenure, credited him with saving boarding at the college.

“Mark was appointed in January of 2002, at which stage boarding was supposed to have been phased out,” he said.

“After some consideration the board reconsidered that motion, and largely due to the Mark’s work over the next few years, boarding returned and flourished.

“I get the glory, but he did the work.”

He called Mr Waddington a “great man” who sought justice for all and was “committed to good outcomes for everyone”.

“He was much-loved by many people,” Dr Casey said.

“If there was anybody who didn’t get on well with Mark, I suggested the problem lay with them, rather than with Mark.

“Jacinta, his wife, added to Mark’s treasure trove of good things that he could do because of her great support.”

Mr Waddington also won the college’s Facere and DocereAward – Latin for ‘To Do and To Teach’ – this year, recognising his contributions to the school community.

Current St Patrick’s principal Steven O’Connor was the deputy headmaster when Mr Waddington worked at the school.

He called him and his family “very good friends”.

“He was just an incredibly diligent and hardworking and loyal member of staff,” Mr O’Connor said.

“He was completely selfless; he never complained about anything.

“He was very generous if people asked him to help – he was always the first person to say yes.

“He was just always here.”

In 2012, Mr Waddington moved to Tasmania with his family where he began working at St Virgil’s College in Hobart.

St Virgil’s deputy principal Daniel Lapolla said Mr Waddington touched the lives of many in the school community.

“Mark’s character is one which embodies the most genuine form of a gentleman that I could ever envisage,” he said.

“Mark has made an everlasting impact on our college community because he believed in it. “He had a strong passion for supporting boys academically to achieve their best in the classroom, building their character on the sporting field and modelling support for our brothers and sisters in the service of others in the community.

“Put simply, Mark loved the boys in blue and the adults who cared for them, and we loved him.”

Mr Waddington also had strong ties to the North Ballarat Rebels Football Club.

He is the second former St Patrick’s staff member to die of cancer this year.