The St Virgil’s community was shocked and saddened to hear of Robert Johnston’s passing.
The St Virgil’s community was shocked and saddened to hear of Robert Johnston’s passing.
‘Johnno’ commenced at St Virgil’s as a Grade 4 student in 1973 and for the next nine years he was a passionate member of the school community. In his final year he was Captain of the athletics team and Vice-Captain of the victorious football team.
Post school, Johnno became involved in the finance industry. He gained a Graduate Diploma in Applied Finance and Investment, a Certificate in Financial Markets from the Securities Institute of Australia and a Diploma of Financial Planning (Deakin University). He became Certified Financial Planner practitioner, an accredited Level 2 derivatives adviser, a Fellow of the Financial Services Institute of Australasia (FFIN), a Fellow of the Australian Institute of Company Directors (FAICD) and a member of the Stockbrokers Association of Australia – Master Stockbroking (MSAA).
For much of his working life (27 years) he worked with Shadforth Financial Group, where he became a Director. To quote from the Mercury tribute from Shadforth – “Much loved and highly respected former director and colleague of 28 years. Rob was an influential mentor to a generation of staff and his presence and sense of humour will be dearly missed by all.”
On leaving Shadforth’s he became Managing Director of Bensam Investments Pty Ltd, a private investment company He was one of the 18 founding shareholders in the successful Pure Foods Tasmania (PFT) and its inaugural Chairman, retiring as a Director in November 2019.
Johnno served as a Director on the Board of the Royal Hobart Hospital Research Foundation since 2016 and, (again to quote a tribute), “during that time he generously shared his knowledge, experience and humour in equal measure to support medical research in Tasmania. Robbie’s contributions and friendship will be missed.”
His other community involvements included: the Carbine Club, the Royal Hobart and Orford Golf Clubs, the Spring Bay Boat Club, the Athenaeum Club and the North Hobart Football Club Tridents.
Seeking to emulate his elder brother Peter in the VFL, Johnno ventured to Victoria after finishing his matriculation. He had games with Geelong Under 19s but returned to Hobart where he played senior football with both Sandy Bay and North Hobart (who he debuted as a senior player while still a student at St Virgil’s) before finishing off his playing days with the Old Virgilians where he became a premiership player. For many years he competed with the OVA athletics club at the Domain.
Johnno had a large group of close friends that he acquired from his school days and maintained throughout his life – they kept in touch and looked out for one another. Some of his closest friends, from the SVC Class of 1981, highlighted how Robert lived his life as a true Virgilian.
He epitomised the values of being an old boy of St Virgil’s…..
- loved his family
- active, enthusiastic participant in life
- service to others – do anything for you
- Caring
- Dedicated
- Compassionate
- Exquisite ability to be involved
- non-judgemental – saw the best in people, no nastiness
- loved being with people; relationships with others were everything to him
- large, long-term and diverse friendship base – loyal, invested in his friendships
- honesty, integrity, sincerity
- generosity – both materially and of spirit
- no airs and graces, self-deprecating
- genuine sense of humour
- could capture and entertain an audience
Johnno will be deeply missed by his family and friends. Our lives are richer because he was part of them.
Rest in peace.
The Johnston family will be holding a Celebration of Robert’s life in the near future when we can all be together. Knowing Johnno, he would never want you to miss out! Details of the Celebration will be posted at: johnnoscelebration.com
