We are deeply saddened to farewell our friend and valued member of the Melbourne Estonian Society, Lembit Marder (1953–2025), who passed away on 19 April 2025. A tribute by Bernadette Pilli follows below.
Farewell, Lembit Marder!
Lembit will be sadly missed by the Melbourne Estonian Society. The news of his death this Easter weekend, caught us all by surprise and shock.
Lembit grew up in Melbourne and then spent many years working overseas. On his return to Melbourne, became actively involved in the Estonian community. He accepted the role of Honorary Consul for the Republic of Estonia in Victoria 2016–2025. He was Chairperson of the Council for Australian Estonian Societies from 2018–2020. Until recently Lembit was also an active member of the Melbourne Estonian House Co-Operative. Lembit worked on The Future Estonian House in Melbourne Working Group 2019–2022.
Lembit was a man with ideas and a drive, wanting to take Melbourne Estonian community into the future. He was an IT man who was skilled and generous with his time and energy. He developed the estonia.org.au website, which held a wealth of information for new arrivals, long time locals, overseas travellers, not just for Melbourne, but Australia wide.
Lembit was a polite gentleman, with a warm and welcoming smile. He was curious about all things Estonian and was always keen to meet and discover people’s stories.
So many of us have personal memories of our interactions with him, whether applying for passports and ID cards, to sitting on committees, casual chats at the bar or attending events such as Independence Day at his property at Kyneton.
In 2023 our community was devasted when he experienced the dreadful accident at his property in Kyneton. But with the love and support of his partner Joanna, his daughter Ingrid, and his friend Saima Riner, he was able to overcome enormous challenges and was again seen at recent events – Eesti Päevad 2024 in Adelaide, Sõrve in Sydney, Exodus 88 and Independence Day this year at Estonian House.
Our condolences to Joanna and Ingrid.
Bernadette Pilli
The Melbourne Estonian Society
