Father Stan Hosie sm
B. 28 April 1922
D. 24 June 2013
The death occurred in Santa Monica USA on Monday 24 June of Father Stanley Hosie, aged 91.
Father Stan was born in Lismore in northern NSW on 28 April 1922, son of Stanley James Hosie and Catherine Clare (Kitty) Hosie, nee Chisholm. He was educated at St Carthages’, and Marist Brothers’ schools in Lismore and completed his secondary schooling at St John’s College Woodlawn. He began studies for the priesthood with the Marist Fathers at Toongabbie NSW, and was chosen to complete his studies in Washington DC in USA, where he was ordained. Returning to Australia he taught at St John’s and was then appointed to found Chanel College, Geelong, Victoria in 1958. 
A gifted writer, Fr Stan had been writing articles largely on issues facing Catholics, such as contraception, when in the early 1960s he was chosen to go to Rome and write a life of the Founder of the Marist Fathers, Fr Jean-Claude Colin, which became a book, Anonymous Apostle. 
In preparation for that assignment he visited the numerous Pacific islands where Marists were working. Convinced that those missions were facing mostly similar problems and that the United States should be involved he established what became The Foundation for the Peoples of the South Pacific. 
Over the years the South Pacific had become famous for the numbers of failed attempts to assist the islanders. Fr Stan established a base in Sydney which sought not only to assist those peoples, but undertook surveys to see that projects were carried through and completed. Fr Stan also carried out a survey of the needs of Pacific island communities with respect to health services, village schools, technical training, rural water supplies and infrastructure. One of the objectives of the Foundation, which helped ensure this, was that it concentrated on the role of women in those islands.	It also broadened its work to missions in Melanesia and Polynesia. 
An early example of the way it worked was when a group of Expatriates in New Guinea decided to build accommodation for Highlanders seeking work in Port Moresby. They applied to the Sydney branch of the Foundation for financial assistance for this worthy cause. It was approved, but against the wishes of one of the locals, a builder, the Sydney Foundation required them to seek tenders. That builder did not get the work. 
After its first twenty five years, mostly focused on Pacific islands, a series of programs had been developed which helped create counterpart organizations in all of the islands and more widely. This development led to the choice of a new name, Counterpart International and then, in the Pacific, helped build these partnerships into the regional organization which became Foundation of the Peoples of the South Pacific International (FSPI). It is now headquartered in Fiji with a Solomon Islander as Executive Director.
As its reach spread, Counterpart International became one of the largest NGOs in the USA. It is headquartered in Arlington, Virginia. Its mission is working in partnership to empower people, communities and institutions widely around the world to drive and sustain their own development and still maintaining a particular emphasis on the involvement of women in its projects. Its reach spread into Africa and Europe.
Even when he had stepped down from the chair Fr Stan maintained an active interest in the work of Counterpart and until recently attended its AGM each year. He was regarded as a wise mentor to the team.
While Stan had become associated with the Marist Province of North America he maintained close links with Marist confreres in Australia and his charitable work was overwhelmingly driven by Marist charisms.
In 2000 Fr Stan received a humanitarian service award by First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton. 
 
John Hosie