Tim Joyce was diagnosed with lung cancer two years ago and died of pneumonia in Royal North Shore Hospital on June 16. He was only 42-years-old, and he leaves behind his wife Cassandra and their three children: Molly aged 8, Gracie aged 6 and Max aged 4.

Mr Joyce was born in 1975 to James and Marie Joyce of Woolbrook. He was the youngest of six children and his closest brother in age was Barnaby Joyce, who was eight years his senior. Next was Patrick, then Anastasia, then Christopher and finally Michael who was nearly 20 years older than Tim.

His father described ‘Timmy’ as a quiet Christian gentleman who had tremendous inner strength right through to the end.

Mr Joyce lived in Sydney with his family and loved bushwalking and reading.

His mother said he was an intellectual man and very well respected.

According to Marie, Tim Joyce was a gentle boy who got along well with everyone, and nobody in the family had ever had an argument with him. He went to Woolbrook Primary School before heading off to board at St Ignatius’ College in Riverview, Sydney.

When he finished high school, Mr Joyce went to the University of New England where he studied agriculture and economics while living in Robb College. He graduated with a bachelor of agriculture economics in 2000 and then continued his studies part-time while he worked on the family property before obtaining his master's degree in 2008. During this time he was a member of the local bush fire brigade and The Young Nationals. Eventually, Mr Joyce moved to Sydney to work in the finance industry as a mortgage broker.

In Sydney, he met one of his schoolmates’ sisters, Cassandra Rigney, and the couple married in Morpeth in the Hunter Valley at her parent's property in 2009.

His love of bushwalking took him to the Himalayas where he walked to the Everest base camp, and he also travelled to Europe.

A requiem Mass for the repose of the soul of Tim Joyce was celebrated at St Mary's Catholic Church in North Sydney on June 21, 2018.