We were deeply saddened last week to hear of the passing of our Board Director and dear colleague, David Wynne. Those of us at the Public Education Foundation who had the good fortune to sit alongside him are still absorbing his loss. David was a colossus of public education at both state and national levels, and he brought that same conviction into every Board meeting he attended with us. He gave PEF his full attention, his hard questions and his warmth, and he never once made you feel that a small not-for-profit was a lesser use of his time.
David Wynne

David Wynne, Proudly Public Awards. Photo: Neaton Photography

Thursday, 20 August 2026

We were deeply saddened last week to hear of the passing of our Board Director and dear colleague, David Wynne. Those of us at the Public Education Foundation who had the good fortune to sit alongside him are still absorbing his loss. David was a colossus of public education at both state and national levels, and he brought that same conviction into every Board meeting he attended with us. He gave PEF his full attention, his hard questions and his warmth, and he never once made you feel that a small not-for-profit was a lesser use of his time.

He spent more than 40 years in public education, teaching in rural and urban schools and delivering adult education and training, before serving in many roles at the NSW Teachers Federation, including Deputy Secretary, Communications and Administration. His work establishing training and recruitment programs for new activists was recognised internationally, and the New Educators Network he built still does exactly what he intended, which is to make sure a young teacher walking into their first staffroom knows they are not on their own. During the HIV and AIDS crisis he used the union’s journal to reach members in isolated country towns when there was no other way of reaching them, and to steady the fears of those who did not yet understand what they were seeing.

David advised on programs for students doing it toughest, helped broker philanthropic support for public education, served on the University of Sydney’s Professional Development Advisory Board for Education, and gave long service as a director of both the Teachers Health Fund and the Nurses and Midwives Health Fund.

Anyone who worked with David will tell you he jumped in boots and all. He was a force of nature, a comrade, a builder and a believer, the sort of person who could take an idea sketched out at the end of a long night and throw himself at making it real. There will not be another like him, and we will miss his voice around our table more than we can properly say. Our thoughts are with his family and friends, and with the many people across public education whose working lives he changed without ever making a fuss about it.

Public Education Foundation