The then senior public servant had been handpicked in 1987 by Paul Keating to serve as midwife to the revolutionary rewrite of how Australians planned for life after work. He died on October 19 after a short illness at the age of 84.

Mr Dean and his wife, Dr Suiwah Leung, had just returned from Washington when he was tapped for the superannuation role. He had spent four-and-a-half years representing Australia, New Zealand, South Korea, Papua New Guinea and some Pacific Island states as an executive director of the World Bank .

"Ron told me Mr Keating said there were two rationales for the scheme," Dr Leung said. "The first was that with the aging population the old age pension was not [economically] sustainable. The second was the scheme would give workers an incentive to work with, rather than against, business because their retirement prosperity would be linked to the success of Australian businesses."

The three pillars that had to be included were company contributions rising to nine per cent over time, a market based system in which workers could choose the fund they wanted to join and the retention of the old age pension as a safety net.

"Ron was tasked with making it happen," Dr Leung, who is the Adjunct Associate Professor, Crawford School of Public Policy, at the Australian National University said.

"Mr Keating, who visited Washington frequently for meetings of the World Bank, was aware of his competence and experience. It was said "with Ron Dean as ED all doors are open [at the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund] for senior treasury officials and the treasurer".

"He was appointed deputy commissioner of the Insurance and Superannuation Commission and told to investigate, advise and then help draft the necessary legislation for the SGS. It was set up in 1993 and 1994. He retired in 1995."

Dr Leung said the key to the creation of the SGS was a deal struck between Mr Keating and the then secretary of the Australian Council of Trade Unions, Bill Kelty.

"Inflation was still an issue at the time and Mr Keating wanted wage restraint. Mr Kelty wanted superannuation for all Australian workers. Until then superannuation was really only something for the rich.

"At the time the comprehensive nature of the scheme and the market based characteristics were way ahead of anything else in the OECD. It became a bit of a model for the modern world."

The fledgling retirement scheme has become a mighty giant, touching the lives of all working, and many retired, Australians. As of March 2015 about $2.05 trillion was invested in more than 500 different funds.

Dr Leung and Mr Dean met in 1978 after the end of his first marriage.

"It was in the carpark of the ANU's University House. He was living there because he didn't want to be rattling around in a flat on his own and I had been sent to Canberra to work with H.C "Nugget" Coombs while he wrote Trial Balance [his biography]," she said.

"What struck me was his gentleness and understatement. Even though he was a very senior treasury official [the then chief executive of the Foreign Investment Review Board] there was a real humility.

"He did not care for sport or watching the football or cricket; he was much more likely to enjoy listening to classical music or the ballet.

"I loved him very much and he loved me. His deep and abiding love allowed me to be who I am."

Mr Dean is also survived by four children, two from his first marriage and two from the second.