Attendance: 29 Members: 28 (of 48) 58% Guests: 1
Speaker: Rodney Patel Topic: Member Behind the Badge
Our final Dinner Meeting for the 2025/2026 Rotary Year was on 30th June 2026. It was a pleasure to welcome, as a guest, the outgoing District Governor, Peter Shepheard and also dinner meeting speaker Rod Patel who was scheduled to deliver his Member Behind the Badge presentation.
DG Peter congratulated the club for its many activities during the previous year and presented two Certificates of Acknowledgement for generous contributions made to the Rotary Foundation. These were accepted on behalf of the club by Foundation Director, Joanne Shentu.
It was a pleasure to hear Rod's presentation which he prefaced with the comment that his talk would be rather uninteresting. Far from it!
Rod's mentor, Geoff Widmer, suggested to Rod that he consider joining Rotary. The conversation occurred whilst Rod was in the street washing a car: his car? No! His wife's car? No! The car actually belonged to one of his son's girlfriends!
This anecdote together with the fact that Rod cooks a meal and dines with a 96 year old neighbour each week says a lot about the person. He was born in Melbourne and grew up in North Balwyn. His family roots are south Asian with Chinese, Malay and Indian heritage. Rod's Aunt is the acclaimed chef, food and travel writer, Elizabeth Chong. Rod showed a beautiful video of Elizabeth describing the origin of the "Australian" dim sim. Food and family gatherings were a prominent feature of life in the Patel household when Rod was growing up.
After attending Carey Grammar School he completed a property valuation course at RMIT and then worked for councils within the Boroondara area. Following the council amalgamation he started his own company, Patel and Dore which he sold in 2025 after more that 30 years in business. Rod, in his typically modest way described his work as follows: he then showed a video clip of that wonderful segment in "The Castle" when the Council Officer approaches Darryl Kerrigan for permission to value his house.
Rod has a daughter and three sons in their early to mid twenties three of whom still live at home. His wife, Veronica, is a nurse who works at Box Hill Hospital.
Rod is an enthusiastic participant in Club activities and has joined the Farmers' Market Committee. Furthermore he regularly volunteers at RIMERN.
Many thanks for a wonderful presentation, Rod
The Rotary Club of Glenferrie Presented with Awards June 30th in Recognition of Ongoing Commitment to The Rotary Foundation
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