• 24th Feb 2025

Vale Gary Pentland

Last week, the College was informed of the sad news of Gary Pentland’s passing.

Gary was an active and involved member of the College, as well as having been on the College’s South Australian Committee in previous years.

Starting his ambulance journey in 1995 with St John in South Australia, Gary volunteered with the Yorketown, Unley, Blackwood and Mount Pleasant divisions.

In 2001, he graduated with a Bachelor of Nursing from UniSA and worked as a Registered Nurse at the Royal Adelaide Hospital, and hospitals in Kalgoorlie, Alice Springs, Mount Gambier and Angaston.

Gary started at SAAS as a Student Paramedic in 2003 in the Barossa region but also worked at Gawler. He made many, many friends across the organisation and quickly become a well-respected member of the SAAS team.

Gary’s leadership journey began in September 2011 when he started acting in a Clinical Team Leader role and soon afterwards, a Regional Team Leader role. Clear that his leadership trajectory was only ever going up, he was appointed Operations Manager for the Murray Mallee Region in 2017. He also acted in the Executive Director, Country Operations role and was a welcome member of the leadership team.

Gary was always a strong advocate for SAAS volunteers and personally connected with his teams, often going out of his way to support them in times of need. This genuine connection established him as a loved and trusted leader.

Gary led the Graduated Paramedic Pathway program at SAAS and has been a mentor to countless staff and volunteers, sharing his exceptional clinical skills and intuition.

At his core, Gary possessed a remarkable sense of humor and was a kind, hardworking individual who consistently supported his colleagues. His leadership earned him widespread respect, not only within his operational area and the South Australian Ambulance Service (SAAS), but also with the Local Health Network (LHN), other emergency services, government agencies, and interstate counterparts.

Gary will be missed immensely, and our deepest sympathy goes to his wife, Michelle and children, Cooper and Leila.

Gary’s tenacity, his care for his people, his generous nature and kindness will always be remembered.

Vale Gary Pentland.

Thanks to College Fellow Mel Alexander and Rob Elliot ASM for sharing their meaningul insights about Gary.

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