ASVO fellows (left to right): Bryan Coombe, Patrick Iland, Pat Williams, Terry Lee and Richard Haselgrove
2007 saw the introduction of a new category of ASVO membership when the previous status of Life Member was replaced with that of Fellow.
The previous Constitution required conferral of the status of Honorary Life Member to require:
- retirement of the person from active professional life, and
- unanimous support of the Committee in judging that the person either:
- has been a Professional Member for at least ten years and to have either published two professional papers in the Journal of the Society or to have served as an officer of the Society, or
- has been a member of the Society or the Australian wine industry or in science applied to viticulture or oenology for 25 years, and to have rendered outstanding and meritorious services to the Society and to the fields of viticulture and oenology.
The new Constitution that was adopted in November 2006 replaced the category of Life Member with that of Fellow. A key difference is that a Fellow need not be retired from active professional life; furthermore, the position is only available by invitation by the Society. To be invited to become a fellow the person must have been a Professional Member for at least ten years, and it also requires an outstanding and meritorious contribution through either an industry, scientific, educational or Society role.
We did have two Life Members; Bryan Coombe became the Society's first life member, and the late Peter May soon joined him. We had great pleasure in inviting Bryan to become our inaugural Fellow of the ASVO in 2007. He was also joined by:
Richard Haselgrove AM
Patrick Iland OAM
Terry Lee OAM
Pat Williams AM
We sincerely congratulate all of our inaugural Fellows of the ASVO.