Harry Oscar Triguboff AO (born 3 March 1933 in Dalian, Liaoning), an Australian billionaire real estate property developer, is one of Australia’s richest people. He is the founder and managing director of Meriton and is colloquially known as “high-rise Harry”. In May 2016 Triguboff was declared the wealthiest person in Australia by net worth in the annual BRW Rich 200 list.
Early life and education
The son of a builder, Triguboff was born in Dalian (Darien at the time), Liaoning, Republic of China on 3 March 1933, the son of Russian Jews who fled to northeastern China after the rise of Lenin. He spent his early childhood in the Jewish community in Tianjin and in 1947, moved to Australia to be educated at the Scots College in Sydney. He later graduated with a degree in textiles from the University of Leeds in England before working in textile businesses in Israel and South Africa.
He returned to Australia in 1960 and became an Australian citizen in 1961. He did a variety of odd jobs, including running a taxi fleet and owning a milk round in Chatswood. He tried selling real estate and worked as an assistant to a lecturer at university but wasn’t so successful at either. He then bought some land in Roseville and hired a builder to begin building his house. The builder repeatedly let him down, so Triguboff threw him out and finished the job himself, learning from his mistakes.
Harry Triguboff net worth: Harry Triguboff is an Australian property developer who has a net worth of $6 billion. Commonly known as “High-Rise Harry”, Mr. Triguboff is the Managing Director and Chairman of the Meriton Apartments Pty Ltd. Born in China, Harry was educated at the Scots College in Sydney, and then at the University of Leeds in England, where he earned his degree in textile. However, his education didn’t help him much when he got back to Australia in 1960, and thus did several odd jobs including driving a taxi and owning a milk round in Chatswood. He rose to prominence after he built a block of 8 units at Tempe in Smith Street in 1963, and then buiding18 more at Meriton Street in 1968. The latter block of apartments provided the name of the company “Meriton Apartments,” which he registered in 1968. Ever since, Triguboff’s company has developed into Australia’s biggest home-builder, having built 60,000 residential dwellings, mainly townhouses and apartments. Among the most notable projects of the company is the construction of Sydney’s tallest residential apartment building World Tower (2001-2004). As of May 2011, the Business Review Weekly magazine estimated Triguboff’s net worth at $4.30 billion AUD, making him the seventh richest person in Australia. Also, he was the first person to win Australia’s Property Person of the Year award twice (once in 2003 and then again in 2009). As for his personal life, he has been married twice and has two daughters from his first marriage. He is still with his second wife, and they currently live in Sydney.
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