RIP Darwin councillor Greg Jarvis

Yesterday I learnt that Greg Jarvis, whom I met during the March 2008 council election campaign, passed away suddenly.

Soon after he returned to Darwin following the Queensland local government elections, Greg was elected as the first Green councillor to the Darwin City Council.

I travelled with Greg, when he came down for the last weeks of the campaign, when we visited the Port Douglas' Chamber of Commerce luncheon. He was a real gentleman and such a grounding support at a time when there was the usual pre-election chaos.

Jarvis was a close friend of Cairns Regional Mayor Val Schier, and helped with her election campaign in 2008. Schier says that Darwin Council is reeling at the shock of losing one of their most active and well-liked councillors.

"I have just found out that my good friend Greg Jarvis, who helped us out for the last week of the Cairns 1st campaign, died unexpectedly last night after playing a game of soccer with friends," Val Schier said.

Jarvis' death was suspected to be a massive heart attack.

"When Greg went back to Darwin after the Cairns' campaign, he got himself elected to Darwin Council as the first-ever Greens councillor," Schier says. "He had just returned from an overseas holiday with his wife Trish and only daughter, Thea.," Schier says.

"I saw him in Darwin last October full of life, enthusiasm, positivity and energy; a wonderful friend, father, teacher, mentor, role model, inspiration," Val Schier recalls.

Before moving to the Northern Territory, he worked as a engineering surveyor in New South Wales. Since 1980, Jarvis has been teaching in the Territory.