Cobar residents were saddened to hear of the passing of former Cobar Mayor, Peter Abbott, who passed away at his home on Friday night, aged 77.
Cr Peter Abbott was elected as Mayor of Cobar Shire Council in February 2021, following the death of Mayor Lilliane Brady.
Cr Abbott joined council in August 2014 after winning a by-election.
He then served continuously as deputy mayor (under Cr Brady) from 2015 until he became Mayor in 2021.
Due to ill health, he stepped down from the role last month.
Current mayor, Jarrod Marsden, who had been Cr Abbott’s deputy mayor since March 2021, said he will miss Cr Abbott’s knowledge and wisdom.
“I held Peter Abbott in the highest regard as a person and for his contribution to Cobar in his time as a councillor and Mayor,” Cr Marsden said.
“Peter was an incredibly smart man, and when you put that with his passion for Cobar, it is no wonder he was so successful in his life.
“Peter came into the role of Mayor to try and do what many considered an impossible task – follow on from Lilliane Brady.
“He did it with ease, and much of the wonderful projects currently underway, what is being accomplished and what will be accomplished by Cobar Shire Council in the coming years, has his name strongly tied to it.
“I already miss him terribly. We are poorer for his loss, but we are so much richer for what he achieved in life,” Cr Marsden said.
Peter first came to Cobar at the end of 1969 to work as a mining engineer at the CSA Mine where he worked for five and a half years.
He returned to Cobar in 1984 and purchased the Cobar Newsagency which he ran with wife Carol until family members, John and Paula Potter and Geoff and Ruth Mullins took over in 2007 due to Peter’s ill health.
“Pete loved Cobar and everything about it and after returning here in 1984, he told us often he never wanted to leave,” daughter Ruth Mullins said.
“He was very proud to serve as a councillor and later as deputy mayor and mayor.”
The much loved husband, father, grandfather, great grandfather and role model to many will be cremated in a private service in Sydney with a memorial service to be held in Cobar on November 3.
A private cremation will take place in Sydney.
Family, friends and colleagues of Peter are invited to attend a memorial service to be held at the Cobar Bowling and Golf Club on Friday the 3rd of November at 12pm to celebrate his life.
