Jewish philanthropist Isaac Wakil dies aged 104

Isaac Wakil, the Baghdad-born businessman, property magnate and philanthropist whose generosity reshaped some of Sydney’s most significant cultural, medical and educational institutions, has died in Sydney. He was 104.

Wakil, who passed away on July 1, leaves an immense legacy through his support of healthcare, education, medical research, the arts and numerous charities — much of it given jointly with his late wife Susan, with whom he shared an inseparable partnership until her death in 2018.

Born in Baghdad in 1922, Isaac grew up in one of the city’s most prominent Jewish families. His grandfather, a Kabbalistic rabbi, founded a school for orphans and led a community that had lived in Iraq — formerly Babylonia — for two millennia.

That world was shattered by the Farhud of 1941, when antisemitic violence, encouraged by the alliance between Adolf Hitler and the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem, Haj Amin al-Husseini, erupted into a brutal pogrom. Armed mobs murdered and raped Jews and looted their homes and businesses. Within a decade, the ancient Jewish community of Baghdad, numbering some 135,000 people, had effectively disappeared.

Wakil fled Iraq and arrived in Sydney in 1947. He opened a clothing store in Bondi, where he met another Jewish refugee, Susan Resnick, who had fled Bessarabia. The couple married in 1953.

They built their fortune first in the clothing industry, through their Surry Hills company Smart-Eez, before investing heavily from the 1970s in neglected warehouses in Sydney’s CBD and Pyrmont. The portfolio made them significant benefactors, though they fiercely guarded their privacy and were often described as reclusive “mystery owners”.

The couple had supported the Art Gallery of New South Wales since the 1960s, but their most significant cultural contribution came with their 2017 gift towards the Sydney Modern Project — the largest private donation in the gallery’s history, which became the catalyst for the new wing now known as Naala Badu. Former Art Gallery board president David Gonski said the couple were “true visionaries who made Sydney a better and more generous place”.

“Their generosity was matched only by their humility and deep belief in the power of art to improve lives,” he said.

The Wakils became the largest individual benefactors in the history of the University of Sydney. Their first gift established 12 nursing scholarships in perpetuity, followed by a $35 million donation — at the time the largest in the university’s history — to establish the Susan Wakil Health Building, and a further $20 million towards the Isaac Wakil Biomedical Building, part of the Sydney Biomedical Accelerator. Their philanthropy was shaped in part by Susan’s long experience living with Parkinson’s disease.

Speaking in Federal Parliament’s Federation Chamber on Thursday, Member for Berowra Julian Leeser said Wakil’s story “is the great Australian story: a person born overseas, fleeing persecution, making his fortune and giving back in spades to the country he loved”.

“It was my privilege to know a wonderful, wise, generous, kind man who took an interest in the lives of others. A Jewish Australian patriot who wanted to create opportunities for others, and whose generosity was inspired by his abiding love for his wife,” Leeser said. “May his memory be a blessing.”

University of Sydney chancellor David Thodey said Wakil’s passing was “an enormous loss to both the university and to Australia”.

“Susan and Isaac understood the powerful vision of medical research that connects patients and physicians with academics and industry,” he said. “The interconnected Susan Wakil Health Building and Isaac Wakil Biomedical Building, funded by their generosity, represent their powerful partnership in life, and their belief in that vision.”

Vice-chancellor Mark Scott said Wakil “held a deep belief in the people at the heart of healthcare”, adding that “thousands of our health students have already benefitted from his generosity, and his legacy lives on in each scholarship recipient”.

The couple’s philanthropy also extended to St Vincent’s Hospital, Opera Australia, Vision Australia, the Sydney Jewish Museum, and the Emanuel and Sephardi synagogues. On Australia Day 2017, Isaac and Susan Wakil were jointly appointed Officers of the Order of Australia for distinguished service to the community through their philanthropy.

NSW Jewish Board of Deputies president David Ossip called Wakil “an extraordinary philanthropist whose generosity has left an enduring mark not just on our community, but across wider society”.

“Isaac, together with his late wife Susan, were unwavering in their commitment to strengthening the institutions and communities they cared about,” he said. “Isaac was a remarkable person and a treasured community figure. His devotion to others is an inspiration to us all. Isaac and Susan Wakil will be remembered for their kindness, humility, and support for others.”

The Australasian Union of Jewish Students said it was “deeply saddened” by Wakil’s passing, remembering the privilege of working with him on the creation of the Susan Wakil Fellowship and his support for efforts to combat antisemitism on campus.

“His love for Susan was so evident to many who never met him,” AUJS said. “Both his love for Susan and his philanthropic endeavours were incredibly inspiring to the AUJS leaders and staff who had the chance to work with him and who were the beneficiaries of his generosity.”

The Sydney Jewish Museum said in a statement, “Isaac was one of Australia’s most generous and passionate philanthropists, with a strong interest in the arts and education. Together with his late wife Susan his generosity and leadership through the Isaac Wakil Foundation, built an enduring legacy of projects, not only in the arts and education, but also health and medical research.

” The Sydney Jewish Museum was a regular recipient of Isaac Wakil Foundation support over many years. Isaac and Susan were particularly focussed on education of the wider Australian community and in 2015 endowed the Mark and Anna Reznik Centre of Learning in loving memory of Susan’s late parents.

“In 2017 they generously endowed the Susan Wakil AO Chair of Education. All of us here at the Sydney Jewish Museum acknowledge their generosity and know that Isaac’s legacy and vision, will continue to shape the cultural landscape of Australia for generations to come. May his memory be a blessing.”

Fund for Jewish Higher Education chairman Peter Wertheim also paid tribute. “Isaac Wakil was one of those rare human beings who combined exceptional business acuity with extraordinary philanthropic generosity,” he said. “Among the many worthy causes he supported in his quiet and gentle way, Isaac helped finance Jewish studies programs at our universities at a time when that support was desperately needed.

“It is thanks to Isaac and other donors that the Jewish story and contribution to civilisation still has a strong voice in a sector where the forces seeking to silence that voice are at their most insidious.”

Rabbi George Mordecai, the Susan Wakil AO & Isaac Wakil AO Chair of Music and Director of Liturgy at Emanuel Synagogue, said Isaac “was a man of extraordinary generosity whose kindness touched countless lives”.

“I will always be deeply grateful to him. Isaac made it possible for me to return to Australia and serve the Emanuel community as part of the clergy team. May his memory forever be a blessing, and may the goodness he shared continue to inspire all who were privileged to know him,” he said.

Isaac and Susan Wakil had no children. He is survived by three younger sisters, 17 nieces and nephews, and many grand-nieces and grand-nephews.

Wakil’s funeral service will be held at Central Synagogue on Friday.