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Nick Waterlow - a gentle, humble man - was defeated by his son's mental illness, an 'enemy' that gripped the family for decades, a funeral service for the Sydney art curator has been told.
Clutching bunches of purple jacaranda flowers - Mr Waterlow's favourite tree - hundreds of mourners filled Sydney's St Mary's Cathedral on Friday to farewell the 68-year-old.
Nick and his 36-year-old daughter Chloe Waterlow were found dead from stab wounds at her Randwick home on November 9.
The next day police began searching for Antony Waterlow, 42 - son and brother of the victims - who was last seen leaving the Randwick property on the day of the deaths.
'Nick spent the last 20 years of his life fighting a different kind of enemy ... it was hidden and had captured Antony ... it was frightening and violent,' Father Stephen Sinn told Friday's mass.
'Nick sought every avenue for peace.
'He hoped that his love and acceptance would deliver his son from this powerful force that at times gripped him ... (but) he was defeated.'
As the service began on Friday, Fr Sinn told mourners that Mr Waterlow had died too soon.
'We don't want to be here ... we weren't ready for his death,' he said.
'But here we are and Nick and Chloe are no longer with us and Antony has disappeared.'
Mr Waterlow's partner, Juliet Darling, spoke fondly of the man with whom she shared a passion for art, poetry and music.
'Nick was passionate and he was humble ... he didn't cling to certainties and he didn't presume, he could say I don't know',' Ms Darling said during her tribute.
She said the English-born curator of the Ivan Dougherty Gallery in Darlinghurst never complained.
'This gentle, affectionate man constantly reached out to others. He gave and he gave and he gave,' Ms Darling said.
'Nick learned to live daily as he dealt with the fear as he tried to find help for Antony ... facing an increasingly heavy burden of Antony's illness.
'He loved all his children and he never stopped loving Antony until the very end.'
Mr Waterlow's son Luke Waterlow, who was a pall bearer at the end of the service, told mourners it would be his intention to honour his father daily.
'What a family you made ... thank you for showing me the light and the way. What a wonderful world,' Luke Waterlow said.
Filmmaker Jane Campion read a poem written by Ms Darling, while artist friends Ross Mellick and John Wolseley read tributes to Mr Waterlow.
A funeral service for Ms Waterlow was held on Thursday and attended by her husband Ben Heuston and the couple's three young children.
Aged two, four, and four months, the children who were at the Randwick home at the time of their mother's death, were not at their grandfather's funeral on Friday.
Police are still searching for Antony Waterlow.
