R.I.P. Dr Gavan O'Connell (1956-2008)

Our dear friend and colleague, Dr Gavan O'Connell, sadly passed away on 26 January 2008 and was farewelled by family and friends at St. Mary's Catholic Church in Greensborough, Victoria, on Friday 1 February 2008. The service was followed by a private family ceremony.

Mr O'Connell commenced with DENTSPLY in January 1997 in the then new role of Clinical Product Manager. In this capacity, he was responsible for managing the company's entire clinical product training portfolio, spanning some 14,000 products. In doing so, Gavan also introduced DENTSPLY's range of NiTi rotary file (ProFile, GT and ProTaper) ranges and Gendex Digital Imaging and Digital Intraoral cameras to the Australian and New Zealand markets with great success. The rapid expansion of both product groups required Gavan's dedicated focus and, in 2003, he relinquished his training role and fully embraced the Business Development responsibilities for both Gendex and Maillefer. Gavan attained his success by developing and introducing what is now one of the leading Clinical Education training programs for both general practitioners and internally for DENTSPLY's sales team. During his 11 years with DENTSPLY, Gavan also harnessed unparalleled relationships with key Endodontists across Australia and New Zealand as he introduced Maillefer's international endodontic programs to a number of undergraduate programs throughout many of the Dental Schools in Australia.

Gavan was dedicated and committed to bringing better dentistry to the dental community. He was an astute, intelligent, honest colleague whose professional integrity was never compromised. Possessing a sharp wit and an unsurpassed work ethic, Gavan will remain one of the most positive influences on the development of DENTSPLY Australia's business over the past 11 years. He was a true professional who was highly respected throughout the DENTSPLY global community. A great Australian passed away on Australia Day but he will never be forgotten by his legion of friends and admirers within the dental fraternities of Australia, New Zealand, the United States and Europe.

Compiled by his many friends and colleagues at Dentsply Australia