Robert Holmes Court

Vocation

Lifestyle

Family

Australian entrepreneur, who became Australia's first billionaire. Educated at the University of Western Australia, where he earned his law degree, he began his legal practice in December 1967. With a background of family wealth, he made his own move into the world of finance in 1970 by gaining control of Western Worsted and Woolen Mills Ltd. At the height of his success, Holmes a Court owned 44.5% of his Bell Group Ltd, which had an estimated value of $650 million. During the '1980s, he bought substantial parcels of shares in various companies until 19 October 1987 when he was hit hard with the stock market crash. In mid-1988 he sold most of his shares in the Bell Group and aborted a planned takeover of the John Fairfax group. In 1985, Business Review Weekly named him Australia's richest man with a net worth of $300 million. He put together a valuable art collection and he was successfully involved in horse breeding and racing. Holmes à Court married Janet Lee on 18 May 1966. They have four children (Peter, Paul, Simon, Catherine). Holmes à Court's mother Ethnee died at the age of 98 in May 2014. Robert Holmes à Court died of a heart attack in Perth, Australia on the morrning of 2 February 1990, aged 53. Link to Wikipedia biography