Dr Dan Maxwell Etherington OAM, one of Tearfund Australia’s original Directors and a longstanding Tearfund volunteer, supporter and advocate, passed away on 4 May 2024. At Tearfund Australia, we extend our condolences to Dan Etherington’s family, and celebrate with them his life of faith and service.

Dan volunteered to become a Director of Tearfund soon after he emigrated to Australia in 1972, and he served on the Tearfund Board for more than 25 years. Dan and his wife Maureen started running a Useful Gifts Shop at Kippax Uniting Church in Canberra in the late 1990s, and continued to do so for 26 years. Among many other forms of involvement, Dan also served on Tearfund’s allocation committees, which decide how best to allocate Tearfund’s financial resources across the work of our partners.

At Dan’s funeral, his son Richard said that his father lived out the call in Micah 6:8, to “act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God”, in so many ways throughout his life. “Dad’s heart was for service: for valuing people and the planet,” he said.

He described how his father’s research led him to agroforestry as a means of raising incomes and protecting the environment in the tropics. Out of this research came a vision for improving the lot of coconut farmers, and the founding of Kokonut Pacific, a social enterprise which helps coconut farming communities produce goods and access markets through sustainable and culturally appropriate technology and resources.

In 2008 Dan was appointed a Member of the Order of Australia for his innovations in small-scale coconut processing, contributions to sustainable agriculture and economic development in the South Pacific region.

“His heart for justice grew with exposure to the challenges of developing countries,” Richard Etherington said. He described how his father wore a Make Poverty History bracelet from the year 2000 up until his death: “It reminded Dad of his mission.”

Steve Bradbury, who was Tearfund’s National Director from 1984 to 2008, said: “Dan’s vast professional expertise as an agricultural economist, first hand experience of living in Kenya, and deep faith and personal commitment to making real the biblical mandate to live with justice, compassion and humility, meant that his contribution to the work of Tearfund Australia was simply huge.”

Tearfund CEO Matthew Maury said Dan had made an immense contribution to Tearfund and to many other organisations. “Dan and Maureen have modelled to all of us what it means to love God and love your neighbour. Everyone who came into contact with Dan was touched by his warmth, zeal, and deep integrity. We are so thankful for his significant contributions to Tearfund, to the church, and to the world.”