Richard J. Pratt (born Ryszard Przecicki; 10 December 1934 – 28 April 2009) was a prominent Australian businessman, chairman of the privately owned company Visy Industries, and a leading figure of Melbourne society. In the year before his death Pratt was Australia’s fourth-richest person, with a personal fortune valued at A$5.48 billion.
Early life
Ryszard Przecicki was born in the Free City of Danzig (present-day Gdańsk, Poland) to Jewish parents Leon and Paula on 10 December 1934. His family immigrated to Australia in 1938 seeking safe refuge from the Nazis and settled in Shepparton, Victoria, changing their surname from Przecicki to Pratt. Pratt was educated at Grahamvale Primary School, Shepparton High School and University High School and enrolled in a Bachelor of Commerce degree at the University of Melbourne in 1953. He played Australian rules football, as a ruckman. After starting his career at Lemnos (now the Shepparton Swans), Pratt played for Carlton in the Victorian Football League’s (VFL) under-19s competition. He was awarded the Morrish Medal in 1953 for being deemed the “best and fairest” U-19 player that year. Pratt did not continue his footballing career to senior VFL level, instead focusing on other interests.
Pratt combined study with acting with the Union Theatre Repertory Company and working as salesman for the family business, Visy Board. After touring London and New York in 1957 with a production of Ray Lawler’s Summer of the Seventeenth Doll, playing the role of Johnnie Dowd, he returned to Melbourne and Visy. Following the death of his father Leon in February 1969 Pratt took over his father’s business, which at that time had several hundred employees and an annual turnover of A$5 million.
Business career
Under Pratt’s direction, Visy expanded from two factories in Melbourne to more than 55 plants across Australia, United States, New Zealand, and Papua New Guinea. From cardboard boxes and packaging, Visy moved into waste paper recycling. Later in the 1990s Pratt expanded his operations considerably into the New York waste paper business.
In 1993 the National Crime Authority (NCA) raided Pratt’s offices in connection with an investigation into businessman John Elliott’s foreign exchange dealings and Elliott’s spoiling domestic stake in Broken Hill Proprietary Company (BHP, now BHP Billiton) while Elliott’s company, Elders IXL, was insolvent. The following year, NCA paid costs and returned documents seized.
Also in the 1990s, Visy was ordered by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) to pay a half million dollar fine for illegal anti-competitive behaviour.
| Richard J. Pratt | |
|---|---|
| Born | Ryszard Przecicki 10 December 1934 Free City of Danzig (present-day Gdańsk, Poland) |
| Died | 28 April 2009 (aged 74) Kew, Victoria, Australia |
| Nationality |  Australian |
| Other names | Ryszard Przecicki |
| Known for | Businessman President of the Carlton Football Club |
| Net worth |  A$5.48 billion (2009) |
| Spouse(s) | Jeanne Lasker |
| Children | Four |
Richard Pratt was one of Australia’s most successful, formidable and charismatic businessmen. Yet for all this he was unfailingly human, his life playing out like a drama even after the final act.
Self-made billionaire, family man, generous philanthropist, patron of the arts and Carlton Football Club saviour were just a few of Pratt’s many guises, and in this compelling biography the truth behind the headlines is revealed. The twists and turns of Pratt’s life are chronicled with candour — from humble beginnings in Poland to the heights of global business success tainted by the humiliating price-fixing scandal that earned Visy the largest corporate fine in Australia’s history.
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