Rupert Hamer - Later Career

Later Career

Hamer remained active in public and community affairs after his retirement. He was chairman of the Victorian State Opera from 1982 to 1995, president of the Victorian College of the Arts from 1982 to 1996 and a patron of the Public Transport Users Association from 1989. He died of heart failure in his sleep on 23 March 2004, and his family accepted the offer of a state funeral from the Labor Premier, Steve Bracks. Hamer was praised by Victorians of all political views. The former Labor federal president, Barry Jones, called him "the finest flower in the Victorian Deakinite tradition.".