{"id":765566,"date":"2026-06-28T11:05:23","date_gmt":"2026-06-28T11:05:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/765566\/"},"modified":"2026-06-28T11:05:23","modified_gmt":"2026-06-28T11:05:23","slug":"richard-scolyers-state-memorial-service-to-be-held-at-sydney-opera-house-on-july-13","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/765566\/","title":{"rendered":"Richard Scolyer’s state memorial service to be held at Sydney Opera House on July 13"},"content":{"rendered":"

Richard Scolyer will be remembered at a state memorial service next month at the Sydney Opera House.<\/p>\n

The former Australian of the Year and leading melanoma pathologist died on June 7 at the age of 59, three years after being diagnosed with an incurable brain cancer.<\/p>\n

His life is being commemorated on Monday, July 13, according to the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet.<\/p>\n

“There will be [a] range of tributes from friends, family members and dignitaries,” an online listing for the event said.<\/p>\n

“Limited free tickets for the State Memorial Service will be made available to the general public.”<\/p>\n

\"Richard<\/p>\n

Richard Slcoyer is survived by his wife, Katie, and their three children, Lucy, Matt and Emily. (Supplied: Instagram @profrscolyer)<\/p>\n

Details were also shared by his family on social media, saying they were “honoured” by the announcement.<\/p>\n

Tickets for the event are being released to the public tomorrow, Monday, June 29, at 9am EST.<\/p>\n

Donations to charities are being encouraged in lieu of flowers, namely to the Brain Cancer Group and the Chris O’Brien Lifehouse.<\/p>\n

‘Humbled to be remembered’<\/p>\n

Professor Scolyer has been remembered as a pioneer of cancer research, an exercise enthusiast and a family man.<\/p>\n

He was a renowned pathologist and a world authority on skin cancer and melanoma diagnosis, co-authoring more than 800 peer-reviewed publications over more than 20 years.<\/p>\n

Professor Richard Scolyer’s ‘final farewell’<\/a><\/p>\n

An open letter from the former Australian of the Year to “All Australians” has been released following his death.<\/p>\n

Together with Georgina Long, AO, his work has been credited with contributing to saving “thousands of lives from melanoma”.<\/p>\n

In 2024, the two were each named Australian of the Year for their work as melanoma treatment pioneers.<\/p>\n

A year earlier, Professor Scolyer was diagnosed with incurable Grade 4 brain cancer, known as IDH “wild” type glioblastoma.<\/p>\n

He chose to document his condition and treatment, sharing every step of the journey with the public.<\/p>\n

This included undertaking a world-first treatment, involving undergoing immunotherapy before having a brain tumour removed.<\/p>\n

The experimental approach, based on melanoma science furthered by him and his colleagues, and developed by Professor Long, extended his prognosis from months to years.<\/p>\n

\"Richard<\/p>\n

The cancer pioneer has also been remembered as an exercise enthusiast and a family man. (Supplied: X @ProfRAScolyer)<\/p>\n

He died three years after his diagnosis, but not before completing his 250th Park Run.<\/p>\n

He is survived by his wife, Katie, and their children, Lucy, Matt and Emily.<\/p>\n

A letter he wrote<\/a> was published following his death, at his request.<\/p>\n

“Having dedicated my 35-year working life to patient care, cancer research and improving lives, I wanted to keep contributing, even in my darkest hour,” he wrote.<\/p>\n

“If my legacy was to continue beyond these words, I would be delighted and humbled to be remembered as a proud everyday Aussie who ‘gave it a crack’, and in doing so, inspired others to pursue their dreams and passions with humility, love and compassion.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Richard Scolyer will be remembered at a state memorial service next month at the Sydney Opera House. The…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":765567,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[64,63,155664,82272,20719,44,74732,46448,364804,8148],"class_list":["post-765566","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-australia","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-australian-of-the-year","tag-brain-cancer","tag-glioblastoma","tag-news","tag-prime-minister-anthony-albanese","tag-professor-richard-scolyer","tag-state-memorial-service","tag-sydney-opera-house"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/765566","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=765566"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/765566\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/765567"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=765566"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=765566"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=765566"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}