Vale Neil Benning

FMA Member Steven Molino has provided the following sad news about the passing of NSW flood risk management champion Neil Benning:

It is with a heavy heart that I am writing to advise that former Molino Stewart employee, Neil Benning, passed away at home on 21 July of a suspected heart attack.

Neil had worked in the water resource and flooding sector for almost all of his professional career. For the first few decades he worked for the NSW Government which included being the principal author of the first two editions of the NSW Floodplain Management Manual and the first edition of Floodplain Management in Australia, the first national guideline of its type.

In the late 1990s he moved to the private sector, first working for SMEC then URS before joining Molino Stewart in 2009. Although he retired from full time work in 2017 he continued to provide valuable input to Molino Stewart's dam safety projects as a casual employee through until 2021. 

He will be greatly missed by all of his former work colleagues with whom he regularly kept in touch. Neil was 70 years of age.

Neil's funeral is being held at St. Gerard Majella's Church, 543 North Rocks Rd, Carlingford on Wednesday 3 August at 10.30am.

In lieu of flowers the family has set up a charitable donations page in Neil's memory: www.justgiving.com/Neil-Benning. Wildlife Conservation was near and dear to Neil's heart and the family felt this would be a way to further his legacy.