In loving memory of
Neil Sligar
(1946-2024)

Funeral recording | Order of service | Pictorial tribute | Tributes | Leave a tribute | Donate to Parkinson’s

A beautiful man. A wonderful uncle. An extraordinary human being.
Mark Greenhill OAM, Nephew.

Neil Sligar was born in North Sydney 11 January 1946 and died aged 78 at home in Prestons 28 March 2024. He is remembered as a loving father, a conscientious financial planner, and a courageous fighter against Parkinson’s Disease, which he stubbornly resisted for more than 25 years.

An eloquent communicator, Neil’s love of intensive exercise and advocacy for the Parkinson’s community inspired many in his local community and across the world.

He was on the Board of Parkinson’s NSW for many years and received a Community Service Award in 2016.

Neil in traditional media

Neil Sligar frequently featured in Parkinson’s Disease coverage in local Campbelltown/Macarthur newspapers and radio. From time to time he also featured in major TV, radio and newspaper outlets.

• Brave Neil fights Parkinson’s in the gym (Daily Telegraph)

Neil was interviewed several times by writer and journalist “Captain” Pat McGeown, then prominent presenter in Campbelltown radio). The three interviews below focused on Neil’s Parkinson’s disease and fitness routines. They were requested by Professor Bas Bloem, Medical director, Parkinson Center Nijmegen (ParC) in the Netherlands.

• Parkinson’s Disease – Vigorous Exercise. Neil Sligar June 2011
• Neil Sligar talks about his Parkinson’s Disease & Vigorous Exercise
• Parkinson’s – Neil Sligar

Advocacy and public eduction

Neil was something of a prolific writer and communicator, respected for his views on the experience of Parkinson’s Disease and passion for intense exercise. He was a regular contributor to the education of medicine and science students the University of Sydney and Western Sydney University. He gave lectures and he even allowed groups of students to see his real world experience of Parkinson’s Disease in his house.

I remember Neil with great respect and admiration.

Kay Double, Professor of Neuroscience, Sydney University.

Neil’s communication is hard to pull together. It was often unrecorded speaking, as a writer in Parkinson’s community newsletters, or as a guest poster or commenter on blogs. Some writing was anonymous. He avoided the spotlight and fretted about the risk of big noting himself. He worried that making stories about his atypical personal experience would displace his mission: advocacy for a condition that affects millions. He also worried that his fitness might lead people to underestimate the severity of Parkinson’s, or be unhelpful for those with more advanced and severe Parkinson’s who were unable to do such vigorous exercise.

• Compilation of comments, emails and guest posts as “Shaky man Down Under” on Stumptuous, fitness and weight training blog of Krista Scott-Dixon. She describes Neil as “the hardcore badass from Down Under”.
• Parkinson’s Disease and Intense Exercise: Neil Sligar’s 10-Year Experience (2010) on Shake, Rattle and Roll, a Parkinson’s Disease blog of Kate Kelsall.
• The label “Exercise for Parkinson’s” may do more harm than good (2012)

Biography

Born 11 January 1946, Neil had a tough start in life. He suffered childhood rheumatic fever for several years in his early childhood, much of it spent bedridden. As a toddler he lived in hospital for 11 months, only allowed to see his mother and father two hours a week. He could see his sister Gayl only through a glass pane.

He first attended school at age 8, commencing in third grade.

Neil never spoke about this experience – that stoicism is a common theme in his life.

At Homebush High School, Neil discovered his love of athletics, rugby union and cricket. He became one of the top sprinters at Sydney University, where he was the 100 metre sprint freshman champion in 1964. He also gained a passion for pushing himself at the gym.

Between school and university, Neil worked as a labourer on the Snowy Mountains Scheme, one of Australia’s iconic infrastructure projects.

Neil graduated from Sydney University with a BA in history and government. He moved to Canberra to work in community relations with the National Capital Development Commission 1971 to 1978. He completed a graduate diploma in public administration from what is now the University of Canberra.

Initially living in Gowrie Hostel, Neil thrived in an environment where he met interesting characters from across the country who had moved to Canberra for work or study. Later he would reminisce about wild pub crawls around Canberra and the Capital region with Duntroon trainees. He retained a lifelong fondness for Canberra. This turned into a love for the ACT Brumbies rugby team, surpassed only by his first love – the Sydney University Football Club – and the Australian cricket team. Bushwalking the mountains of Canberra fostered a passion for nature, which he also expressed through camping and gardening.

Neil embarked on a career in retail management in 1978. Assigned to the Sydney head office of Big W, he bought a home in Campbelltown in 1979. Neil met Lyn Wood (later Sligar) at work and married in 1983. Neil’s only child, David, was born in 1984. The marriage lasted until 1992. David lived with his mother but Neil maintained a close and supportive relationship with his son.

Neil worked as Strategic Planning and Research Manager with Big W until 1988, when he set up a small printing business in Fairfield. When the business struggled during the early 1990s recession, Neil shifted into financial services. He went on to complete a graduate diploma in financial planning from Deakin University and gained accreditation as a certified financial planner, which he practiced in his independent firm Neil Sligar and Associates. He was respected by peers and clients for his meticulous and ethical advice.

Neil was diagnosed with Parkinson’s Disease in 1998. While it was tough news, it appeared to give him a new mission in life. This mission took two forms. (1) Neil determined to do everything within his power to make himself as healthy as possible, and (2) Neil would become an active member of the Parkinson’s community, which included membership of the Board of Parkinson’s NSW.

As part of the first, Neil embarked on an aggressive fitness regime. In his late 60s, and with mid to advanced staged Parkinson’s, his routine included bench pressing of up to 110kg. It awed fit young men in the gym and attracted attention from local and national media. It was exhibited to neuroscientists across the world, including by Professor Bas Bloem, Medical director, Parkinson Center Nijmegen (ParC) in the Netherlands.

His approach was not always entirely consistent with the Parkinson’s exercise orthodoxy, at least of the time. It raised some eyebrows, particularly from physiotherapists who worried about the potential for injury.

Neil’s work in the Parkinson’s community included serving as a board member of Parkinson’s NSW, and roles in public events, fundraising and media appearances.

We are most grateful to [Neil] for the countless hours he gave through the local Support Group and on the Parkinson’s NSW council to raise awareness and advocate for stronger services and supports for people living with Parkinson’s. His steadfast commitment to promoting the benefits of exercise in managing Parkinson’s disease were outstanding and something of which we continue to advise the importance to others living with Parkinson’s – a legacy of which Neil should be proud [of in his] extraordinary life.’

Mary Kay Walker, CEO, Parkinson’s NSW

In 2016, Neil’s deep brain stimulation dragged back the clock a little on his Parkinson’s symptom advancement, affording some extra time prior to end-stage Parkinson’s.

In 2017, Neil moved from Campbelltown to a retirement village in Penrith. With David interstate or overseas for most of the decade to 2018, the move allowed Neil to be closer to family in the lower Blue Mountains. Sadly it became more difficult to maintain networks and relationships built up over decades in Campbelltown.

Neil’s health deteriorated but he doggedly insisted on staying alone at home. Despite constant falls – frequently daily, sometimes more than daily – he refused a wheelchair or even a walker. While this is probably not advisable, it highlights Neil’s stubborn determination. In 2020, after months of virtually living in hospital, Neil moved into a nursing home in Prestons.

Neil continued to walk around the nursing home unaided until a fortnight before his death, when he finally accepted a walker.

Perhaps the saddest aspect of Neil’s final years was a loss of vocal volume and clarity. Though still mentally astute and eloquent, he had great difficulty with basic communication simply because he could not be heard.

A blessing came for Neil and his family and friends about a year before his death. A battery change and setting adjustment of his deep brain stimulator in 2023 noticeably improved his condition and temporarily gave him a new lease on life. His voice improved. For several months he could engage in long and eloquent conversations, at least during his best times.

The improvement enabled Neil to have a short holiday with his son and grandson in his beloved Canberra in September 2023. Neil loved the opportunity to bond with his grandson.

Interests

Neil loved music and continued to play classical and popular piano in his nursing home up to a fortnight before his death. He played only with his left hand near the end, non-dominant but less affected by Parkinson’s.

He always loved great hymns like Amazing Grace and Abide with Me, the latter of which was played at this funeral as requested. Neil relished classical choral music and boasted a decent tenor voice, which he could still belt out even when he lost his speaking voice (the brain is mysterious). His favourite composer was JS Bach, whose “Jesu Joy of Man’s Desiring” also played at the funeral. He also had diverse tastes in popular music.

Neil was a thinker and enjoyed thoughtful non-fiction – especially history, social sciences and biographies of political, sporting or intellectual figures – and poetry. He had a particular interest in the history of European colonial land exploration of Australian, and in poetry of the British romanticism movement. His niche expertise in the former was on Matthew Flinders, but more specifically on Matthew Flinders’ cat named Trim. Neil wrote thousands of unpublished words about Flinders and his cat.

He organised book clubs both at his retirement village in Penrith and nursing home in Prestons.