Overview
- Agent Philip Grenz and Neill’s family said Neill died of pneumonia after being treated at St. Vincent’s Private Hospital, and released the cause to correct earlier inaccurate reports.
- Neill died on Monday, July 13, in Sydney at age 78, a fact the family described as sudden and unexpected.
- The family emphasized that Neill had been declared cancer‑free in April after CAR‑T cell therapy for an aggressive lymphoma, and that he did not die of cancer.
- Close contacts and coverage noted years of intensive cancer treatment had left his immune system weakened, which may have made it harder for him to recover from the infection.
- The family has asked for a private funeral on Neill’s New Zealand farm, requested donations to charities he supported (including the Snowdome and Dunstan Hospital foundations and New Zealand conservation groups), and said four recently completed projects are scheduled for release in the coming months.