At the District 9800 Changeover on 30 June 24 Rotary Melbourne member Robert (Bob) Fels was awarded with the Royce Abbey Award.  

A Royce Abbey Award:

• Acknowledge the late Royce Abbey’s profound contribution to Rotary as a member of the Rotary Club of Essendon, as a Governor of this district, as the third Australian to be world president in 1988-1989 and as a Trustee of The Rotary Foundation.
• The Award recognises a Rotarian who has demonstrated enthusiasm and commitment, consistent with Royce Abbey’s Presidential Theme ‘Put Life into Rotary, Your Life’
• And it provides $ ^AUD1,000.00 to support the Royce and Jean Abbey Vocational Scholarship.

Without doubt Bob Fels has demonstrated enthusiasm and commitment to the ideals of Rotary throughout his four decades of Rotary service.

He joined the Rotary Club of Melbourne in August 1985, and despite many people trying to talk him out of it, Bob has decided that due to his advancing years it is now time to retire from Rotary.

As his club’s International Service Chair for many years, Bob promoted the various programs of the Rotary Foundation and encouraged the club to make generous commitments to the Foundation each year.

At District level, Bob has served:

• As a member of the D9800 Peace Fellow Selection Committee since the inception of Rotary’s Peace Fellow program in 2001.
• He served as Chair of that Committee for 8 years (2007-2015) and has taught each of us, who have served on that committee, the importance of selecting people who are genuinely committed to peacebuilding, academically gifted and who have leadership potential.
• He has mentored many candidates, helped them to prepare their applications and remained friends with them long after they have completed their fellowship studies.
• Bob can take much of the credit for our district producing 42 peace fellows, which is more than any other Rotary district in the world.
• For more than 20 years Bob has also played a vital role in the selection of Global Grant Scholars and previously known as Ambassadorial scholars.
• In 2012, he led a Peace Mission of young peace builders to Japan.
• And for two years he chaired our District Alumni Committee.

At international level,

• Bob served for 6 years on the RI Peace Fellow Committee. He was the only non-past district governor on that committee.
• He has served as an evaluator of peace fellow applicants.
• And he was involved with assessing the performance of Rotary Peace Centres around the globe as the leader of the Peace Centre Review Task Force.

Bob was the Warden of International House at Melbourne University from 1982 to 1997 which provided the strong foundation for his commitment to world understanding and peace, 

He has been the recipient of the Rotary Foundation’s Citation for Meritorious Service (2014) and its Distinguished Service Award (2022).

And earlier this week, he was made an Honorary Member of the Rotary Club of Melbourne.

Bob you will be missed in Rotary circles, and we certainly hope that you will maintain contact with those of us who are fortunate enough to call you a friend.

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