His daughter Margaret, a diplomat, remembered her father as a complex man who played many roles in his long and busy life.
Mr Twomey died at Shepparton's Acacia House on March 1 aged 92 after a long and difficult decline.
Peter Twomey was born in Christchurch, New Zealand, to strict Catholic parents who dedicated much of their lives to humanitarian causes. He and his three siblings all went to boarding school, "getting a good education and becoming individualists", Margaret said.
She said her father "liked exploring the unexplored and rising to a challenge".
Thus, after matriculating at just 15 years old, Mr Twomey sought out a career in broadcasting, including an early year-long adventure in the sub-Antarctic Campbell Island, where he studied and predicted layers of the ionosphere to plot shortwave radio signals.
Soon after, he travelled to England to learn about the new technology called television — also doing stints in Belgium and Italy.
Returning south, he headed to Melbourne where was recruited to develop a new TV project — HSV Channel 7 — in time to broadcast the 1956 Olympic Games.
During this time, Mr Twomey placed the first ever TV test pattern on air in Australia.
Even more importantly, it was in Melbourne where he met his wife, Elaine. They married in 1962 and then moved to Shepparton to start up the new regional television station: GMV6.
Daughter Margaret arrived in 1963, followed by another daughter, Anne (now a law professor), and son Paul (a behavioural economist). A third daughter, Mary Patricia, was lost soon after birth.
Mr Twomey succeeded Ron Williams as general manager at GMV6 and as an engineer he remained a pioneer.
“He always kept ahead of his peers — not afraid to move into new, revolutionary realms of technology. When others were still stuck on valves, Dad was moving into the digital and satellite age,” Margaret said.
She said her father became a committed community citizen, attending city council meetings, and engaging with state and federal MPs.
Mr Twomey was also a proud Rotary member of 49 years, only ceasing to attend meetings when he became too frail, and stopping reading Rotary bulletins only when his eyesight failed.
Margaret said her father was a keen pilot and an enthusiastic member of the Goulburn Valley Aeroclub. He was a founding member of Tarcoola retirement village and remained a board member for several decades.
Margaret said St Brendan's Parish played a big part in her father's life in Shepparton.
“He had the odd stoush with Monsignor Bones in the early years but they both mellowed with age, with Mons Bones once being heard to — quite accurately — declare that Peter Twomey was a ‘private man'. Too true,” she said.
Margaret said in his retirement, her father became a "community activist, nightmare political constituent and a rebel shareholder".
“While his ideas and messages weren't always delivered in the gentlest of ways, they were usually pretty well-reasoned and clever,” she said.
Margaret thanked her father's friends, fellow Rotarians and doctors and carers for spending time with Mr Twomey during his declining years.
“So the long goodbye is finally over. While accompanied by both sorrow and shock, we are so relieved that he is finally at peace,” she said.
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