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The philanthropist returns

AUTHOR: Deborah Tarrant   DATE: 08.12.05   ISSUE 3, 2005

In early November, an illustrious gathering of Australian business leaders celebrated the 10th anniversary of the library at AGSM and saw Mr Lowy receive the inaugural AGSM Financial Times Global Business Leader Award. UNSW Chancellor David Gonski noted the benefits of Mr Lowy’s well-placed philanthropy in his welcome speech, recalling the contrast to the library’s opening when there were hardly any books in the stacks and newspapers in the shelves. “Today the library looks so beautifully used,” he commented.

Frank Lowy AC receiving the inaugural AGSM Financial Times Global Business Leader Award

Photo: David Smyth

“The naming of this place in honour of Frank was a wonderful thing because it shows the initiative, verve and excitement that Frank has brought to life, and putting [his name] on this library, brings inspiration to so many people at AGSM.”

In 1994, Mr Lowy – a self-taught businessman who grew the global Westfield shopping centre empire from a single delicatessen in Sydney’s western suburbs – agreed to endow $2 million for the establishment of the library.

Among the guests who joined Mr Lowy, his wife Shirley (a UNSW alumnus) and several senior executives from the Westfield Group and the Lowy Institute for International Policy, were Reserve Bank of Australia board member Jillian Broadbent AO, Gresham Partners director and AGSM Advisory Council chair Tony Berg AM, managing director of Allco Equity Partners Ltd Peter Yates, Emeritus Chairman of AGSM John Reid AO, UNSW Vice-Chancellor Professor Mark Wainwright AM and Mr Lowy’s biographer Jill Margo.

Fred Hilmer, the former Dean of AGSM and now the Vice Chairman of the Westfield Group, recounted for the guests Mr Lowy’s early involvement with the project.

As dean Mr Hilmer had determined AGSM, already a leading business school, needed to grow to keep its standing as a world class information service provider. “We had to grow the school. We needed a new building and, of course, that required money,” he told the gathering.

Mr Lowy’s endowment was “a huge gift”, and “a bold idea that captured his imagination”, according to Mr Hilmer who admitted to having inside information on Mr Lowy’s passion for reading and his formative influences which had given the library project real meaning for the businessman.

“Frank’s generation was shaped by a regime that burned books. They loved propaganda,” Mr Hillmer explained. Growing up during the World War II holocaust allowed Czechoslovakian-born Mr Lowy only six years of formal schooling. “Libraries symbolise a love of truth and the facts,” Mr Hilmer observed, noting the Frank Lowy Library’s progression beyond books to a 24/7 internationally accessible information centre. The 10th anniversary gathering later became the audience for the first of a new Meet The Author event series.

Beyond Mr Lowy’s belief in the library’s core educational purpose, the significance of the Lowy family’s strengthening connections with UNSW also are considerable. Not only are Mr Lowy’s three sons – all now key executives within Westfield – graduates of the university, but the Lowy family now accounts for nine UNSW alumni. At the time of the endowment, Mr Lowy was an AGSM advisory council member, a position subsequently taken on by his son, Steven, managing director Australia of Westfield Holdings Ltd. Mr Hilmer also noted that Westfield, for all its achievements in global business, has a preponderance of UNSW graduates in its ranks.

In accepting his award, Mr Lowy thanked AGSM Dean Mr Robert McLean for inviting him to see for himself the library’s growth. “When you are asked to do something good, to return to see it 10 years later and see how it has grown, doubles the pleasure. It’s flourishing,” he said.

In a speech previously read at the 2005 School Dinner following the announcement of the AGSM FT Global Business Leader Award recognising Mr Lowy’s inspiring entrepreneurial leadership, Mr Lowy said, “To receive any award is an honour. But this one is all the more special because it is conferred by an educational institution, and one that is devoted to business which has, of course, been my life’s work.

“Education is an issue of deep interest to me, probably in large part because I wasn’t able to pursue one as a young man. My childhood and teenage years were interrupted by the Second World War and the turmoil that produced, and I was never able to complete high school or go on to tertiary education.

“An individual might be gifted, or have natural talent, or tremendous energy – but an education is the bedrock upon which all these things can flourish." Frank Lowy AC

Photo: David Smyth

“But I remain ever conscious of the benefits education bestows, and I’ve made sure all of my family have been given the opportunity that passed me by. A good education is the foundation stone of a successful life.

“An individual might be gifted, or have natural talent, or tremendous energy – but an education is the bedrock upon which all these things can flourish. A good education is the means by which an individual can reach their full potential.

“This is why I have been a long-time supporter of AGSM. AGSM provides world-class education for the business leaders of tomorrow, and is a place where the business leaders of today can hone their skills and keep up with the latest developments.”

In the first Meet The Author talk, Mr Lowy and the assembled group heard a compelling recount by visiting Professor Sydney Finkelstein of some of the salutary cases raised in his bestselling book, Why Smart Executives Fail, an exploration of some of globally noteworthy corporate malfunctions.

After listening to the author’s tales of executive failure and being presented with a bound copy of the book, Mr Lowy told the group: “Now I know why I don’t sleep at night.”

*Frank Lowy is also a board member of the Reserve Bank of Australia, a director of the Daily Mail and General Trust in the UK and Chairman of the Football Federation of Australia. In 2003, Mr Lowy founded the Lowy Institute for International Policy, an independent international policy think tank to produce distinctive research and fresh policy options for Australia’s international policy, and to promote wide discussion of Australia’s global role.