Frank Lowy was born on the 22nd October 1930 in Fiľakovo, now Slovakia, of Jewish origin and is an Australian entrepreneur. Lowy founded and led the Australian retail company the Westfield Group. According to US Forbes Magazine, Lowy is one of the richest Australians, having been active in business since 1952. Lowy was also the president of the Football (soccer) Federation of Australia from 2003until 2015.
How much is the net worth of Frank Lowy? It has been estimated by authoritative sources that the overall size of his wealth is as much as $5.1 billion, as of the data presented in the middle of 2017 Westfield Corporation is the major source of Lowy net worth. It should be noted that Frank has been listed in Financial Review Rich List every year since 1983. In 2010, he became the richest person in Australia with the estimated net worth of A$5.04 billion at the time.
Frank Lowy Net Worth $5.1 Billion
To begin with, the boy was born in Slovakia, but lived in a ghetto in Hungary in the time of World War II. In 1946, he managed to escape and reached France, where he boarded a ship and wanted to reach Palestine, but was caught and detained by the British in a camp in Cyprus. However, he managed to serve in the Jewish paramilitary organization Golani Brigade, and participated in the Israeli – Arab War in 1948.
His family was based in Hungary and had a small business, and in 1952, Lowy joined them and they all migrated to Australia. In 1960, he founded the company which is currently entitled Westfield Corporation Limited, in Sydney, Australia, developing shopping centers which even operated in the US from 1977. The company continued to specialize in shopping centres, and the Westfield Group now owns and operates shopping centres in Australia, New Zealand, the UK and the US. All the shopping centres are advertised with the brand Westfield or Westfield Shoppingtown. Those have added significant sums to the overall size of Frank Lowy net worth.
From the beginning of the company until 2010, Lowy held the position of executive chairman of the Westfield Group; currently, he serves as the non – executive chairman. From 2008 to 2010, he and his company became the focus of a US tax investigation, after Swiss and Liechtenstein accounts were discovered – no wrong-doing was discovered.
Additionally, he served as the director of the Reserve Bank of Australia from 1995 to 2005. Significantly involved in the development of soccer in Australia, Lowy was the president of the Football Federation Australia from 2003 to 2015, succeeded by his son.
He was appointed a Companion of the Order of Australia in 2000, and in 2005, Lowy received the Woodrow Wilson Award for Corporate Citizenship. Several years later, the businessman was honoured with the Henni Friedlander Award, among a number of other awards and honours.
Finally, in the personal life of Frank Lowy, he is married to Shirley Lowy, who he met in 1951. They have three sons: Peter, Steven, and David who took over the lead of Westfield. Currently, Frank resides in Point Piper, Sydney, Australia. Since 2003, he is also owner of the mega-yacht Ilona. It is Lowy’s fourth yacht, and he has travelled around the world four times. However, the family is involved in philanthropy too, with a particular interest in cancer research and treatment.
