I have been told that Bill Powell, former CAQ President, passed away two days ago. The funeral will be on 22nd January at 1.30pm, and held at Gregson and Weight, Nambour. It will also be livestreamed.

I have copied this post from the Koshnitsky Medal thread in Australian Chess History. But I expect there will definitely be further contributions from people who knew him.

Condolences to his family and friends.

 Originally Posted by blackbishop 

The Suncoast Chess Club Inc, founded in 1987, has hosted open tournaments since 1990. In most years, two events were held and the names of all winners are engraved on a gigantic rook trophy which was made by the Eumundi Woodcraft. The leading Australian players of the time attended as well as overseas grand masters. It was a popular tournament that drew many participants from Brisbane and nationally.

In 1994, four open tournaments were conducted by the club. The respective winners were Ian Rogers, Tony Miles, Alex Wohl and Chris Tandy.
In 1999, the club had the honour of conducting the Australian Open Championships won by GM Vladim Milov of Switzerland, the Australian Open
Women’s Championship won by Arianne Caoili of the Philippines and the Australian Open Rapid and Lightning Tournaments both won by Joel Benjamin
of the USA.

As the President of the club up until 2010, Bill Powell provided the drive and organizational ability to pull off this impressive program. This drive is evident
from his award of “Volunteer of the Year” for Coolum in 2013.

“As chairman of the RSL Anzac Day committee, his dedication to raising community awareness, especially among the area’s youth, of the sacrifices made
by our servicemen and women has seen the annual dawn service grow from around 500 to 5000.“

https://www.sunshinecoastdaily.com.a…-love/1763636/

Bill was a man who got things done. He worked on the CAQ Council for a number of years, eventually becoming President of the association.

Up until 2016, the club continued to run open tournaments including, in 2011 and 2012, the successful Bill Powell Suncoast Open. These days,
the club concentrates more on local tournaments, junior and women’s chess development. Tony Powell has been Tournament Director and Vice President
of the club while Tulia Powell has organized the Sunshine Coast Women and Girls’ Chess Championships.