Author(s): Jill Margo

Biography

The inspiring story of the rise and rise of one of Australia's richest and most successful businessmen. Frank Lowy has dotted the suburbs of Australia with a $13.2 billion (assets) mall empire. His 30 regional centres are within a 30-minute drive of 70% of the country's 18 million population. A 67-year-old native of Czechoslovakia, Lowy is a Holocaust survivor who left Eastern Europe in 1946 to fight in the Jewish underground in what was then Palestine. Fighting Arabs during the day, he studied accounting at night. Immigrating to Australia in 1951, Lowy started out delivering sandwiches for a Sydney deli. He made his first real estate profit subdividing a vacant lot. By 1974 he had become Australia's dominant mall operator. With Australia conquered, he turned to the U.S. Lowy is betting he can change the shopping habits of consumers in America.