Richard J. Pratt (born Ryszard Przecicki; 10 December 1934 – 28 April 2009[1][2]) was an Australian businessman, chairman of the privately owned company Visy Industries, and a leading figure of Melbourne society.
[3] Ryszard Przecicki was born in the Free City of Danzig (present-day Gdańsk, Poland) to Jewish parents Leon and Paula on 10 December 1934.
[citation needed] 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.
[11] As well as his business interests, Pratt was known for his involvement in public service, having held posts including foundation chancellor of Swinburne University of Technology, president of the Victorian Arts Centre Trust, and Chairman of the Board of Management of the Mental Health Research Institute of Victoria.
[citation needed] Pratt also donated considerable funds to both major political parties (for example, A$300,000 in Financial Year 2004–05),[12] as well as to Prime Minister John Howard's Liberal government.
[9] This included an $8,300-a-month fee to Bob Hawke for consultation on "Asian and government matters", $27,000 for travel to the US for Gough Whitlam as business advisor on overseas markets, and other sums for former state premiers Nick Greiner and Rupert Hamer.
In 1959, Richard Pratt married Jeanne (née Lasker), a journalist, who was also a Jewish immigrant from Poland, born in the town of Łowicz in 1936,[19] and before their marriage lived in Sydney.
[20] After the success of Visy Industries, they enjoyed a lavish lifestyle, with a private jet and a range of apartments, including a penthouse at the Sherry-Netherland Hotel in New York City;[21] their main home was the historic mansion Raheen, in the Melbourne suburb of Kew,[9] the former residence of Roman Catholic Archbishop Daniel Mannix.
[24] In 2000, this affair became the subject of widespread media attention owing to a court case involving Ms Hitchcock and a nanny hired to look after her daughter.
[26] After a well-publicised battle with prostate cancer, Richard Pratt died at his Kew residence on 28 April 2009,[2] the day after all charges against him had been dropped due to his ill health.
[9][29] On 10 October 2007, Pratt was formally accused of price fixing, cheating customers and companies out of approximately A$700 million in the nation's biggest-ever cartel case.
[11][34][35] Federal Court of Australia judge Justice Heerey said Pratt and his senior executives were knowingly concerned in the cartel, which involved price fixing and market sharing.
[37] On 27 April 2009, this criminal prosecution of Pratt for charges of impropriety (lying to the ACCC during its successful investigation into the Visy/Amcor price-fixing scandal) were abandoned on account of his poor health and impending death.