State Memorial for Professor Richard Scolyer AO
The Australian Government hosted a State Memorial to honour Professor Richard Scolyer AO, who passed away in Sydney on 7 June.
State Memorial Details
The State Memorial for Professor Richard Scolyer AO was held in Sydney on Monday 13 July.
For more information, visit Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet.
Professor Richard Scolyer AO was a great Australian, a pioneering scientist, and an inspiring example of grace in his final years.
Because of Professor Scolyer’s groundbreaking research, advanced melanoma went from a death sentence to a curable disease. As a result of that breakthrough, in a country with the highest melanoma rates on earth, thousands of Australians are alive today.
In recognition of these extraordinary contributions, Professor Scolyer received the New South Wales Premier's Award for Outstanding Cancer Research eight times between 2009 and 2020. In 2021, he was appointed an Officer of the Order of Australia in the Queen’s Birthday Honours for "distinguished service to medicine, particularly in the field of melanoma and skin cancer, and to national and international professional organisations".
He was named Australian of the Year in 2024 jointly with Professor Georgina Long in recognition of their world-first immunology treatments.
Following his own diagnosis with brain cancer and with the risk of shortening his life, Professor Scolyer became the world’s first brain cancer patient to have pre-surgery combination immunotherapy. By undertaking an experimental treatment developed by Professor Long, he advanced the understanding and treatment of brain cancer leaving an immeasurable legacy for all those impacted by the disease.
Reflecting on that research, Professor Scolyer once said:
‘Hope is an intrinsic and integral part of science. Hope empowers us to take action. Innovation cannot succeed without this hope’.
In his final years, Australians came to know Professor Scolyer not only for his scientific achievements, but for his warmth, optimism and unwavering sense of purpose. Even while living with stage four brain cancer, he continued to inspire others—most recently riding through Tasmania to raise funds for a cure.
In the end, life is the ultimate legacy. And thanks to Professor Scolyer, Australians have been given more life, more time, more hope.