He served as a sub-lieutenant in the Royal Australian Navy during World War II aboard HMAS Pirie.
[6] After the war, he studied commerce at the University of Melbourne for one year and then attended Pembroke College, Cambridge, where he received a Master of Arts degree in economics.
[1] Over the next two decades, he and his brother Ken advocated for an aggressive expansion of the business into the suburban market, though this strategy was met with initial resistance from the company's board.
He was named executive chairman of the company in 1983 during a major recession and led its takeover of the department store chain Grace Bros that year.
[2] Outside of his family's business, Myer was a director and chairman of the financial services company National Mutual from 1978 to 1992.
In the 1970s and 1980s, he was on the boards of CSIRO and the Salvation Army and served as a deputy chairman of the National Gallery of Victoria and the Victorian College of the Arts.
[2][10] He was survived by his wife of 66 years, Sarah Myer (née Hordern), and their three children, Sid, Rupert and Samantha.