Vale Margaret Eichholzer
A Tribute to Margaret Eichholzer
Written by Professor Helen Sullivan, Dean, College of Asia and the Pacific
It is with great sadness that I am sharing the news that our colleague, Margaret Eichholzer, passed away on 6 January this year. Margaret was known to many of us as the formidable (in the very best sense) Manager of Crawford School of Public Policy, a role she held from 2014 until her untimely retirement in 2018. However, Margaret’s connection and commitment to ANU stretches back to 1994 when she joined the ANU as a part-time administrator, a position she could combine with raising her four sons with her husband John.
Over the next quarter of a century, Margaret served the university in multiple roles and became one of its most respected professional leaders. She qualified as an accountant and combined financial acumen with strategic nous, to very good effect. Margaret became known as a ‘go to’ person for sorting out knotty administrative problems and for establishing new university ventures.
The list of her contributions is very, very long but examples include: developing the training framework, structured training program and web communication strategy for finance practices for ANU staff, including academic and professional staff, leading the development of the administration for the newly formed ANU College of Arts and Social Science, bringing together six budget units and twenty cost centres, reforming the finance functions for the College of Asia and the Pacific, and establishing the administrative and budget foundations for the National Security College, and helping its founding colleagues navigate the ANU.
Margaret made major contributions to cross university committees and working groups on a wide variety of topics including financial shared services, student load planning, UniForum co-ordination, and sex and gender diversity policies. Amongst all this activity Margaret also found time to support the development of professional staff, acting as a mentor to numerous colleagues in the university’s mentoring program, work for which she was awarded the Vice-Chancellor's Award for Career Advancement in 2012. This was the second Vice- Chancellor’s Award for Margaret. She also received the Vice-Chancellor's Award for Career Achievement in 2007, in recognition of her expertise.
For many of us, me included, Margaret is best remembered for her contributions to the College of Asia and the Pacific and to Crawford School of Public Policy. 2014 was not an easy time for Crawford School as cuts to the Australian Aid program impacted the numbers of international students able to study at the School. Margaret responded with prudent budgeting, developing robust pricing models and financial management practices that helped the School weather a very tricky couple of years, and put in place solid financial management for the future.
Margaret worked very closely with successive School Directors, always offering good advice and not being afraid to channel her inner teacher (she had first trained as a high school teacher) when she thought it necessary! Margaret was one of the main reasons I decided to take up the offer of appointment as Crawford School Director. She was a beacon of competence and stability and had a wry and sometimes wicked sense of humour. She was always focused on how to realise the ambitions the School had for itself, thinking differently, and creating opportunity. Margaret was simply a joy to work with.
When I became Director, she promised me two years and then she wanted to retire to do other things. Cruelly those plans were cut short by cancer. In 2018, Margaret was diagnosed with a Grade 4 glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) brain cancer. Following an initial program of treatment, we were able to hold a retirement party for her in August 2018. Colleagues and ex-colleagues came from all over the university and indeed from all over Australia. So many colleagues wanted to acknowledge the positive impact Margaret had on them that our book of memories ran to 80 pages. There is also a permanent reminder of Margaret’s contribution in the Crawford Building – the Margaret Eichholzer meeting room.
In 2022, Margaret was awarded the Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM) for her lifetime of dedication to the administration of education and research in Australia. This award acknowledged Margaret’s contributions to ANU but also her many years of education focused community and voluntary work.
Margaret is survived by her husband John, her four sons and their partners, and her five grandchildren.
She will be missed.
