DAVID WEINER
Mike Wrublewski, with wife Shauna, at the recent tribute. Wrublewski died on Sunday.
MACCABI icon and former Sydney Kings owner Mike Wrublewski passed away on Sunday morning after losing his short battle with pancreatic cancer.
The 63-year-old was diagnosed in June after he looked for a cure to what he thought was a back pain. After receiving the grim news, he held an emotional farewell event three weeks ago, where former Sydney Kings basketball players travelled from around the world to join hundreds of family and friends and remember their fondest memories about Wrublewski’s involvement in Jewish, amateur and professional sport.
Maccabi NSW issued a statement on Sunday saying: “Our dear Michael, our King of Hearts, may have gone too soon but the legacy he leaves behind will live on forever”.
Current Basketball Australia (BA) chief executive Larry Sengstock, who Wrublewski took aim at during his farewell speech as he pleaded for the sport’s future, also paid tribute over the weekend.
“Mike was a pioneer of the NBL who had a crazy vision of taking basketball from the tin sheds in which it was being played into major arenas,” he said in a statement. “BA, the NBL, the WNBL and all of basketball owes him an incalculable debt and we will now look for some appropriate way in which we can honour his legacy.”
He is survived by his wife Shauna, their daughters Sasha and Zalli and Adam and David, sons from a previous marriage.
The funeral will be at 10am on Wednesday, September 2 at Temple Emanuel Synagogue, 7 Ocean Street, Woollahra. The minyan will be at 7pm, Wednesday September 2 at the same venue.
