Beloved Teacher Dies After Freak On-the-Job Accident: 'He Will be Dearly Missed'
An Australian school teacher and former administrator died from a fall last week while retrieving balls from a rooftop.
Paul Hogan, 61, fell through a skylight of St. Margaret Mary’s School in Spotswood, near Melbourne the afternoon of June 27, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation reported.
WorkSafe Victoria, which is investigating the incident, told the news outlet, “it is believed Mr Hogan was taken to hospital with critical head injuries, where he died overnight.”
7News Melbourne reported that Hogan “had been warned not to climb onto the roof.”
He “stepped forward to save others from putting themselves in harm’s way,” the news station reported.
When the skylight gave way, Hogan fell nearly 10 feet, the station reported.
Hogan’s brother Peter Hogan, told the station the children “had no balls to play with,” and “[Paul Hogan] knew that they all end up on the roof.”
So “even though he was told not to get up, he wanted to help.”
Hogan described his late brother as “gentle, calm, considerate” man, who “loved people.”
A principal advised him not to climb the ladder up to the roof, Peter Hogan said. “He wasn’t being silly, but he just stumbled somehow, went through a skylight and then landed on his back.”
Hogan’s heart stopped for seven minutes after the accident, prompting use of a defibrillator.
Dr. Edward Simons, executive director of Melbourne Archdiocese Catholic Schools, told Austraila’s News.com that his school district “has activated and offered specialist support services for Paul’s family, our many staff and students and their families who may be impacted.”
Simons praised Hogan as a “highly regarded” leader in the Catholic school system during a career that spanned 36 years.
“Paul was a friend and mentor to many in our MACS community, and he will be dearly missed,” Simons said.
“We extend our sincere condolences to Paul’s family, friends and colleagues, and we hold all of those impacted in our hearts and prayers,” Dr Simons said.
The school sent a letter to families that said Hogan had served as principal at Our Lady of Mount Carmel in Sunbury in 2009, then was principal at St. Mary’s Primary School in Ascot Vale in 2016. He retired in 2022 but had continued to work as a part-time substitute teacher and relief teacher.
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