For decades, Roy Thompson and Nola Thompson quietly put their wealth behind hospitals, education, mental health services, emergency rescue and community organisations across Queensland’s Sunshine Coast.
Now the region is mourning the couple together.
Nola Thompson died on July 30 at the age of 90 following a three-year battle with Stage 4 ovarian cancer. Her husband, businessman and philanthropist Roy Francis Thompson OAM, died eight days later on August 7. He was 95.
They had been married for 69 years.
Their son Peter Thompson said his father had become increasingly frail and was admitted to the same ward at Selangor Private Hospital where Nola had received palliative care in her final days.
Peter described his father’s condition after losing his wife in just four words: “His prognosis was a broken heart.”
For a family that includes eight children, 15 grandchildren and 19 great-grandchildren, the deaths bring an extraordinary partnership to a close. But across the Sunshine Coast, the Thompsons leave behind something much larger than a family story. Their philanthropy is embedded in services and institutions that are expected to continue helping people for decades.
A fortune that largely came back to the Sunshine Coast
Roy Thompson’s business success began far removed from the large-scale philanthropy for which he would later become known.
He started working as a carpenter at 16 and went on to build a substantial property business. Peter Thompson recalled that one particularly successful development, Chifley’s hotel at Alexandra Headland, became important to his father’s thinking about giving back.
Roy believed the Sunshine Coast community had treated him well as his business grew. According to Peter, that gratitude became the foundation of his approach to philanthropy.
The scale of his local focus is striking. Peter said 90 per cent of his father’s donations were distributed on the Sunshine Coast.
Over more than 50 years, Roy and Nola supported charities, community groups, health initiatives and educational causes across the region. Much of that giving was carried out without seeking public attention.
Their support reached organisations including Wishlist, the Buderim Foundation, the University of the Sunshine Coast and brain and mental health services. They were also involved in establishing the Sunshine Coast Rescue Helicopter Service, which went on to become part of the region’s LifeFlight story.
$2 million for accommodation near the hospital
One of the couple’s major contributions was a $2 million donation towards Wishlist Centre, an affordable accommodation facility opposite Sunshine Coast University Hospital.
Wishlist chief executive Brendan Hogan said the centre has already supported thousands of patients and families from the Sunshine Coast and beyond.
For Hogan, their influence was not simply about the size of individual donations. He said Roy and Nola helped change philanthropy on the Sunshine Coast by giving generously, setting an example and encouraging others to contribute.
Their support also extended to people facing barriers to mental health treatment.
The couple donated $1 million to support the work of eating disorder organisation EndED. They also backed neuroscience and mental health initiatives connected with the Thompson name.
Jim Lagopoulos, founding director of the Thompson Institute, said the couple had a strong concern for disadvantaged people and wanted services to remain accessible to those who could not afford treatment.
That approach continues through Thompson Brain and Mind Healthcare. Lagopoulos said the service had seen more than 4,000 people in the previous 18 months and provided care on more than 7,000 occasions.
For some of those patients, he said, treatment on the Sunshine Coast would otherwise have been out of reach.
Scholarships designed to outlive their generation
Education formed another major part of the Thompsons’ giving.
Their support for the University of the Sunshine Coast included scholarships and bursaries, with funding arrangements expected to assist students until at least 2075.
That means part of the couple’s legacy is likely to remain active for nearly half a century beyond their deaths.
Roy also invested significantly in brain and mind initiatives on the Coast, while Peter Thompson is now a director of a centre carrying his father’s name.
The combination of education, health and community support drew tributes from local leaders following the couple’s deaths.
Sunshine Coast Mayor Rosanna Natoli said Roy and Nola had been champions of the region and that their generosity had strengthened education, health and community institutions.
MP Fiona Simpson highlighted the way their philanthropy combined compassion with long-term thinking, while MP Brent Mickelberg remembered a couple who often gave without seeking recognition.
Mickelberg also pointed to Roy’s rise from carpenter to successful property developer and said the couple wanted to leave the Sunshine Coast better than they found it.
A private couple with a very public legacy
Despite their wealth and influence, Roy and Nola largely avoided the social spotlight.
At home, Peter Thompson’s explanation for the longevity of their marriage was far simpler than the story of the organisations they helped build.
“They loved the same stuff,” he said.
The couple shared interests including the ballet, while Nola took particular pride in caring for her husband.
Their partnership continued as both grew older and their health declined. Nola’s death was followed just eight days later by Roy’s.
The timing has given an already significant community story an intensely personal ending. Their public legacy can be measured in donations, scholarships, health services and buildings, but for their family, the story is also one of two people whose lives remained closely intertwined for nearly seven decades.
Roy Thompson’s funeral to be held on August 27
A private funeral has already been held for Nola Thompson.
Roy Thompson’s funeral service is scheduled for Thursday, August 27 at 11am at Stella Maris Catholic Church on Church Street in Maroochydore.
Representatives of organisations he supported, including community and charitable groups, are expected to attend.
Peter said his father would have wanted people to come. Attendance is open to the community, subject to the church’s capacity.
Roy and Nola Thompson spent much of their lives building businesses, raising a large family and directing their success back into the Sunshine Coast.
The numbers tell part of that story: 69 years of marriage, more than five decades of community support, millions of dollars donated, scholarships extending to at least 2075, and, according to their son, 90 per cent of Roy’s donations remaining in the region that helped make his success possible.
For the Sunshine Coast, their deaths eight days apart mark the loss of two people whose influence will continue long after their names disappear from the daily news.
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