LIONS Club of Greater Dandenong has farewelled a Lion of more than 30 years, Ken Daff.
The Dandenong North resident lost his two-year cancer battle on 13 August, aged 71.
Councillor Matthew Kirwan told Monday’s City of Greater Dandenong council meeting that Mr Daff had served more than 10 years as the club’s president.
“But his service to the Dandenong community was much more than being an office bearer,” he said.
“He was instrumental in fund-raising activities that raised many tens of thousands of dollars for charity, whether it be barbecues at Bunnings or the Lions’ second-hand bookshop that operated for many years in the main street of Dandenong.
“Ken was hands-on and was the key volunteer in all of the club’s activities.”
Cr Kirwan said he helped the council’s youth services team run a barbecue only weeks before his death.
“A quiet and unassuming person – which is why despite so much service to Dandenong he is not as well-known as he deserves to be – he nonetheless touched many lives with his kind, giving and egalitarian nature,” he said.
Lions Club of Greater Dandenong president Chandra Mangalore said Mr Daff was a Lions Club International life member, very dedicated and hard-working and a community service-minded person.
“He was single-handedly feeding the poor in Dandenong once a month for many years, nearly 10 years or so,” he said.
“He did that all by himself, hail or rain or shine.”
Mr Mangalore said many Lions events wouldn’t have happened without Mr Daff.
“It’s a big void to fill. He’s irreplaceable,” he said.
“He was well-liked and very kind. A man of few words but a heart as big as an ox.”
Mr Daff left behind wife Shirley, children Tracey, David and Sharon, daughter-in-law Penny and son-in-law Bradley, and grandchildren Emily, Jacob, Maddison and Jackson.
