Vale Brenton Lewis, business leader and progressive mayor

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The late Brenton Lewis OAM is being remembered as a driven, aspirational leader who made Murray Bridge prouder, safer and more progressive.

Mr Lewis, 77, died last Tuesday, November 26, after a five-year battle with cancer.

Kathy Lewis, his wife of 53 years, told Murray Bridge News she would remember his determination to achieve the best he could for himself, his family and his community.

“He always had this focus: I’ve got to build for the future,” she said.

“He had a very high work ethic, and he worked very hard at whatever he did.”

Farmers’ son became a leader in agribusiness

Brenton Lewis was born on August 22, 1947 to Murray Bridge residents Keith and Hilda Lewis, the eldest of two children.

He had originally wanted to be a pilot when he was growing up, but wound up training in accountancy and taking an interest in agribusiness.

Having been rejected for a job with the Department of Agriculture, he became a stock agent with Bennett and Fisher, and was then headhunted for a role with milling company Noske Bros when they started a farming division.

In the meantime, he and Kathy – a Port Lincoln girl – had met at Cummins, were married in 1971 and initially settled at Naracoorte.

Within a couple of years they would make a long-term home on a dairy property at Riverglen, Sweetwater Lodge.

Mr Lewis ran Noske’s research farm at Monarto for a while, then another in Victoria, then became the company’s sales manager for South Australia and Victoria.

The couple bought and sold a number of businesses over their next few years: Beauchamp’s deli; another deli, post office, bank agency and salon on Swanport Road; an egg company called Redcone; and an agricultural chemical firm called Farmtec, which Mr Lewis built into a $16 million enterprise.

He wound up in a state managerial role with IAMA Limited, and stayed in a similar position with Wesfarmers when the company was bought out in 2000.

“I very rarely applied for jobs – I was tapped on the shoulder,” he said in 2019.

“I also had a mentor who … put me into line, helped me become less bombastic.”

He learned a lot about leadership through all those buyouts and mergers, he said.

From the business world to civic leadership

The next step in his career was the sharpest turn he had taken yet: he quit his $190,000-a-year executive job to become a project manager with the Murraylands and Riverland Regional Development Board, on a quarter of the salary.

Within a few years he had succeeded David Altmann as its chief executive, a role in which he cemented the close links he already had with the leaders of some of the Murraylands’ biggest businesses.

By 2014 he was ready for another new challenge – one which would offer a slight reprieve from the pressure of the corporate world, while enabling him to give back to the community he had loved all his life.

He submitted his nomination for Murray Bridge’s mayoralty at the last minute, and campaigned on a slogan he had developed while knocking on hundreds of doors in the weeks leading up to the election, asking locals what they wanted their community to become.

The answer: proud, safe and progressive.

He was elected in a four-way contest against the deputy mayor, a Rotary district governor and a former federal MP, succeeding the retiring Allan Arbon.

Being mayor was very different to being a chief executive, he said: you had to be more of an inspiration, and rely less on a hierarchy of employees.

“I’ve had 200, 300 staff; now I’m the chairman of the board and I can’t do anything,” he said in 2019.

“I’ve wanted to make so much happen, but you’ve got to work within the systems … (and) understand the game you’re in.

“You have to be patient, respectful, to plant seeds and water them.”

His advice to the young leaders he addressed in 2019:

• know yourself
• back yourself in
• listen to people
• don’t get too comfortable in one place
• don’t just climb the ladder, though– “make career moves because you’re passionate”

His successor as mayor, Wayne Thorley, said Mr Lewis would be remembered best for having made people proud to live in Murray Bridge.

“He had pride in the community,” Mr Thorley said.

“He’d say ‘Don’t be ashamed of who you are … don’t be ashamed to be a blue-collar worker, be proud of it’.

“‘Have some aspiration, but don’t be ashamed of who you are and where you’re from.’”

Mayor finished his term and left big boots behind

Mr Lewis had originally been given only months to live at the time of his diagnosis, but survived long enough to complete his second term as mayor almost three years later.

During eight eventful years in office, he steered Murray Bridge through two major disasters – the Thomas Foods fire and the COVID-19 pandemic – as well as starting the redevelopment of Sturt Reserve and bringing together groups which would make the district prouder and safer.

He earned all kinds of accolades for his leadership around the time of his retirement, including being named Murray Bridge’s citizen of the year in 2023 and receiving an Order of Australia Medal the same year.

He was also a long-time member of Murray Bridge Racing Club, whose Gold Cup race day he attended in October, having helped establish the former Murray Bridge Trotting Club in the 1970s.

He had also been a member of the Rotary Club of Murray Bridge for decades, though less active in his later years, and of various other boards and committees.

Mrs Lewis said her husband had never been willing to accept the status quo if something better was possible.

“What was so strong for me was his courage, his capacity to push through no matter what the challenge was,” she said.

“That was reflected in the way he dealt with his illness: he never allowed that to define him.

“He was very stoic, saying ‘I’ll still make the most of every day I’ve got’.

“He’s someone we loved and who we’ll miss.”

As well as his wife, Mr Lewis is survived by their two daughters, Bianca and Kelly.

His funeral will be held at Murray Bridge Racing Club at 1.30pm next Wednesday, December 11.