Vale Maxwell (Max) Waters OAM

Surf Life Saving Australia offers its sincere and heartfelt condolences to the family and friends of Maxwell (Max) Waters OAM, who sadly passed away peacefully on Tuesday 4 February.

Max was innovative in his work and dedicated to surf lifesaving at many levels of the movement.

Max’s dedication and commitment to the movement is best reflected by his standing as a Life Member of Port Macquarie SLSC (1971), SLS Mid North Coast Branch (1971), Surf Life Saving NSW (1973) and Surf Life Saving Australia, member 199 (1999).

He was also awarded an OAM for his service to surf lifesaving in 1999.

Max held a variety of roles at both a club and branch level including but not limited to, Chief Instructor at Port Macquarie as well as Secretary, Branch Superintendent, Board of Examiners and Vice President at SLS Mid North Coast Branch.

Some of Max’s greatest accomplishments were the introduction and organisation of the “Inter-Branch Championships” concept, which after a successful 10 years became the NSW Country SLS Championships and the “Beach to Bush” program which Max pioneered in 1994 with a team to educate the Western region of NSW in surf and water safety.

Max was a competitive surfer, member of the branch R&R (Rescue and Resuscitation) team and described one of his proudest moments as watching his son Peter win the NSW Junior Surf Championship.

Max passed away five days short of celebrating his 90^th birthday. He is survived by his wife Pat Waters OAM and five children Peter, Mark, Kris, Luke and Stephanie.