Peter Ryan OAM died on Friday July 18 after only announcing his departure from the ABC, after 45 years, last month to battle thyroid cancer.

Former ABC News Breakfast host Michael Rowland said on LinkedIn:

“Peter was a distinguished ABC Washington bureau chief and, later, one of Australia’s pre-eminent business journalists. If you wanted to know what was going in corporate Australia, Peter was your man. His contacts and record of story-breaking were unrivalled. He had the many awards to prove it. On top of his courageous journalism, Peter was also a generous mentor and boss to so many over the years, including me. He had a big impact on so many ABC careers. When I last saw him in hospital a few weeks ago, Peter was full of old stories and good cheer, despite his health challenges. An avowed Beatles tragic, he gave me no shortage of tips and fun facts as I was heading off on a visit to Liverpool. It was an afternoon I will always treasure.

My sincere condolences to Peter’s wife Mary, and daughter Charlotte.

We’ve all lost a good one.”

Peter was the ABC’s Senior Business Correspondent since 2016 reporting for AM, The World Today, PM and part of the ABC Radio National Breakfast show team. He won the Walkley Award in 2017 for breaking the story that the Commonwealth Bank had allowed money launderers to exploit its deposit machines and was recognised with the Order of Australia medal in 2022 for his significant service to journalism.

The ABC’s tribute upon his retirement last month is below.