Vale to a true mensch: Victor Smorgon
AJN STAFF
VICTOR Smorgon, industrialist, innovator, philanthropist and family patriarch, died last Friday, aged 96, drawing the curtain on an amazing immigrant success story.
A spokesperson for the Smorgon family said Mr Smorgon had made a massive contribution to Australia since arriving as a boy of 14 with no English.
The great-grandfather, who was married for 72 years to his wife Loti, developed industries that contributed significantly to Australia’s economic growth, employing thousands and earning export income for the nation, the Victor Smorgon Group stated.
As a young man, he helped build a Carlton butcher shop into a business empire, and “has also given back to the community with a lifetime of philanthropy, supporting a wide range of institutions, organisations and ¬≠individuals”.
“With Loti, they have also played a significant role in helping develop Australia’s cultural life and aiding the careers of young artists.”
Mr Smorgon was born on January 2, 1913 in Mariupol, Ukraine, where his family had lived for generations.
In 1927, his father Nahum (Norman) Smorgon led the family to Australia, where they entered the meat trade in Melbourne.
Ambitious and forward thinking, young Victor soon expanded the business into meat wholesaling. Eventually, he bought his father, uncles and brother into his new business with him.
The Smorgon business flourished in the postwar economic boom and Mr Smorgon took over the company after the death of his father in the mid-1950s.
His business philosophy was to grow and constantly move into new areas, eventually challenging established giants in paper and packaging and in steel production, before disbanding Smorgon Consolidated Industries in 1995.
Mr Smorgon was also the architect of what became a family’s philanthropic tradition throughout the Jewish community and mainstream Australia.
The Smorgon family’s contribution to the Victorian Arts Centre was recognised in the centre’s theatre complex. The Smorgons also made major contributions to schools, hospitals and social programs, including Jewish Care, Emmy Monash Aged Care, the Royal Children’s Hospital, the Royal Victorian Eye & Ear Hospital, and the Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre.
In the cultural sphere, Mr Smorgon was a perpetual benefactor to the Australian National Gallery Foundation, a donor and patron of the National Gallery of Victoria and a donor and past chairman of the Australian Council of Contemporary Art’s building committee.
He was involved with the Museum of Contemporary Art and the Victor Smorgon Charitable Fund helped the National Gallery of Victoria purchase new art.
Mr Smorgon is survived by Loti, three of their four daughters, Ginny, Bindy and Vicki, and 15 grandchildren and their children.
Life of Victor Smorgon
1913: Born in the Ukraine.
1927: Leaves the Ukraine for Melbourne.
1928: Father Norman opens kosher butcher shop.
1937: Marries Loti at East Melbourne Hebrew Congregation.
1939-1945: Smorgons supply tinned meat to Australian soldiers fighting in World War II.
1940s: Smorgon Consolidated Industries is formed. Expands beyond the family butcher to steel, plastics, cardboard boxes.
1948: Commences meat exportation.
1980s: Smorgon Steel is established.
1990: Made an Officer of the Order of Australia.
1995: Donates 154 works to Sydney’s Museum of Contemporary Art.
1995: Smorgon Consolidated Industries, worth more than $1.5 billion is disbanded. Continues in business through the Victor Smorgon Group.
2005: Smorgon Steel is sold to OneSteel for $2.5 billion.
2007: Made a Companion of the Order of Australia.
2008: Donates $15 million to the National Gallery of Victoria.
July 3, 2009: Dies in Melbourne, aged 96.