John Mayfield in Memoriam

It is with great sadness that we say goodbye to John Mayfield who passed away last November in Australia. John was chairman of the PEB Steering Committee from 1985 to 1988, and he remained an active supporter of our work. John will be remembered for his charismatic personality and important contribution to education both in Australia and worldwide and will be greatly missed by all who knew him. The following words are taken from the eulogy to John delivered by Kelvin Trimper of Lend Lease Communities, on my behalf, at John’s funeral.

“I first met John at an OECD conference in 1979, when he was representing Australia and I was representing the United Kingdom. Subsequently he became Chair of the PEB Steering Committee and was instrumental in recruiting me to Paris to work for the Secretariat of the Programme. He remained a mentor, adviser and family friend until the day he died.

John was an inspiring man, a visionary thinker, a dynamic chair, a generous friend. He made things happen, he improved people’s lives, he cared passionately about education. He never forgot that buildings are, first and foremost, about people.

As a Chair, he summarised complex discussion succinctly, encouraged the timid, and dealt humanely with the less perceptive. He was a real gentleman. As a thinker on education policy and practice, he was bold and far-sighted, but also realistic. He could turn ideas into experiments, and experiments into common practice. He was a tremendous networker – in fact I think he taught me what that word means before it became fashionable.

Above all, we will miss his warmth and generosity. He touched the lives of everyone he met, and changed many of them. He is quite irreplaceable; the world-wide community of those involved in educational building are bereft.”

Richard Yelland
Head, OECD Programme on Educational Building (PEB)