Sir Frank Lowy AC, born on October 22, 1930, in Fiľakovo, Czechoslovakia, is an Australian-Israeli billionaire businessman and Holocaust survivor. He co-founded the Westfield Group, one of the world’s largest shopping centre empires.
His journey from a wartime ghetto to the pinnacle of global real estate stands as one of the most compelling life stories in modern business history.
Who is Frank Lowy?
Frank Lowy is an Australian-Israeli billionaire and the co-founder of Westfield Corporation. He built one of the world’s largest retail property businesses, operating over 100 shopping centres across Australia, New Zealand, the United States, and the United Kingdom.
In June 2018, he sold Westfield Corporation to the Franco-Dutch group Unibail-Rodamco for $16 billion. That deal remains the largest corporate takeover in Australian business history.
Lowy also served as chairman of the Football Federation Australia (FFA) from 2003 to November 2015. During that tenure, he helped bring the Australian national soccer team back to the FIFA World Cup after a 32-year absence.
Beyond business and sport, his philanthropic legacy has touched cancer research, education, international policy, and Holocaust remembrance.
He founded the Lowy Institute in 2003, endowing it with A$30 million. The think tank has since become Australia’s leading independent foreign affairs research organisation.
Lowy also serves as chairman of the Institute for National Security Studies (INSS) in Tel Aviv. That institute focuses on Israel’s national security and Middle Eastern affairs.
Early Life of Frank Lowy
Frank Lowy was born into a devout Jewish family in Fiľakovo, Czechoslovakia, on October 22, 1930. His father Hugo Lowy worked as a traveling salesman. The rise of Nazism in Europe forced the family to relocate to Budapest, Hungary, where they were compelled to live in a Jewish ghetto during World War II.
His father Hugo disappeared in 1944 and was later confirmed to have died at Auschwitz concentration camp. For years, Lowy did not know his father’s exact fate. A chance meeting between his uncle Myer Lowy and Frank’s son Peter in Los Angeles in 1991 finally revealed the full story of Hugo’s death.
After the war ended, Lowy attempted to reach Palestine in 1946. He boarded the ship Yagur but British authorities intercepted it and interned him in a detention camp in Cyprus.
Undeterred, he eventually reached Israel, where he joined the Haganah paramilitary group and later served in the Golani Brigade during the 1948 Arab-Israeli War.
In 1952, Lowy arrived in Sydney, Australia, with one suitcase and no English. He joined family members who had already established a small goods delivery business there.
Frank Lowy Age
Frank Lowy is 95 years old as of 2026, born on October 22, 1930. His birth sign is Scorpio. He has been listed on the Australian Financial Review Rich List every year since 1984, a span of over four decades.
Frank Lowy Ethnicity and Nationality
Frank Lowy holds dual Australian and Israeli citizenship. He is of Jewish Slovak-Hungarian descent, born in what is now Slovakia.
His Jewish heritage has been central to his identity, shaping both his philanthropic priorities and his personal mission to preserve Holocaust memory.
Frank Lowy Education
Lowy’s formal schooling ended at the age of 13 when his father was taken by Nazi forces. From that point, his education came from lived experience: surviving war in Budapest, being detained in Cyprus, fighting in Israel’s 1948 war, and then building a business from scratch in Australia.
His life story is documented in the biography Frank Lowy: Pushing the Limits, written by Australian journalist Jill Margo. The 2019 Tribeca Film Festival also screened the documentary What Will Become of Us, which explored his wartime experiences.
Lowy has channeled his own educational gap into significant support for institutions of learning. He donated A$10 million toward the UNSW Lowy Cancer Research Centre in 2010. In 2022, he donated $18 million to Tel Aviv University.
The Lowy Institute, which he endowed with A$30 million in 2003, also functions as an educational vehicle for shaping Australia’s engagement with international policy and global affairs.
Frank Lowy Career
Frank Lowy’s business career began the moment he arrived in Australia in 1952. He joined family members in their Sydney small goods delivery operation. Within a year, his entrepreneurial instincts led him toward something far larger.
Early Career and the Birth of Westfield
In 1953, Lowy met fellow Hungarian immigrant John Saunders. The two men formed a partnership that would reshape Australian retail forever. Together they developed their first shopping centre in Blacktown, in Sydney’s western suburbs.
They listed the company on the Australian Stock Exchange in 1960 as Westfield Development Corporation. Over the following decades, the business grew steadily across New South Wales and beyond.
Lowy also served as a director of the Reserve Bank of Australia from 1995, a role he was reappointed to in 2000, 2003, and 2005. That appointment placed him at the centre of Australian financial policymaking during a period of significant economic growth.
Building a Global Shopping Centre Empire
John Saunders sold his stake and departed the company in 1987. Lowy continued to expand aggressively. Westfield entered New Zealand in the 1990s and then the United Kingdom in the 2000s. The company had already expanded into the United States in 1977.
By 2014, the Westfield Group managed assets worth US$29.3 billion across Australia, the United States, and the United Kingdom. That year, Lowy split Westfield into two entities: Scentre Group, which held the Australian and New Zealand shopping centres, and Westfield Corporation, which held the US, UK, and European assets.
Lowy stepped down as Executive Chairman of the group in May 2011, after turning 80. His sons Steven and Peter were appointed joint chief executives at that time.
The Westfield Sale and Legacy
In June 2018, Lowy completed the sale of Westfield Corporation to Unibail-Rodamco, the Paris-based real estate group, for $16 billion. The deal was the largest takeover in Australian corporate history. The Lowy family subsequently sold its remaining stake in Scentre Group in October 2019.
Since then, the family’s main investment operations have been managed through the Lowy Family Group (LFG), which has offices in Sydney, New York, and Los Angeles. Frank’s three sons David, Peter, and Steven are all principals of the group.
Lowy’s career also included a notable, and ultimately costly, media venture. In 1981, he paid Rupert Murdoch A$842 million for a national television network and other media assets. He sold out three years later at a significant loss. That experience reinforced his focus on the retail property sector.
Frank Lowy Companies and Investments
Westfield Corporation was the cornerstone of Lowy’s wealth for over five decades. At its peak, the company operated more than 100 shopping centres globally, with total assets exceeding US$50 billion when combining Westfield Corporation and Scentre Group.
After the 2018 sale, the Lowy Family Group became the primary vehicle for the family’s investments. LFG focuses on global investments across finance, technology, and real estate. It operates out of offices in Sydney, New York, and Los Angeles.
Lowy also built a significant art collection over his lifetime, including Australian and international works. He served as President of the Board of Trustees of the Art Gallery of New South Wales, and the Lowy Gonski Gallery at the gallery was named in his honour in 2005.
He has owned a series of luxury yachts named Ilona, after his mother. His fourth yacht, Ilona IV, has been documented by multiple outlets as a major personal asset. He and his family have also held significant real estate, including a home in Point Piper, one of Sydney’s most exclusive neighbourhoods.
Frank Lowy Business Achievements
Opening the first Westfield shopping centre in Blacktown in 1959 marked the starting point of a retail revolution. Lowy and Saunders expanded that single mall into a global operation spanning four continents over the following five decades.
In 2010, the Business Review Weekly named Lowy Australia’s richest person, with an estimated wealth of A$5.04 billion. He has appeared on the Financial Review Rich List every year since its launch in 1983.
The $16 billion Westfield Corporation sale in 2018 to Unibail-Rodamco stands as Australia’s largest-ever corporate takeover. That single transaction marked the culmination of 65 years of work in the retail property industry.
Lowy also helped transform Australian soccer as chairman of Football Federation Australia from 2003 to 2015. He played a key role in launching the A-League and in securing Australia’s membership in the Asian Football Confederation, which led directly to the Socceroos’ return to the FIFA World Cup after a 32-year absence.
Frank Lowy Awards and Recognition
Frank Lowy was appointed a Companion of the Order of Australia (AC) in 2000. That honour recognised his contributions to the retail sector and his philanthropic work across Australia and internationally.
Queen Elizabeth II made him a Knight Bachelor in the Queen’s Birthday Honours List in June 2017. His investiture took place at Windsor Castle on December 8, 2017. The citation recognised his services to business and philanthropy in the United Kingdom.
In 2002, Philanthropy Australia named him Australia’s leading philanthropist, following donations totalling A$10 million that year. The Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars awarded him the Woodrow Wilson Award for Corporate Citizenship in 2005. He received the Henni Friedlander Award for the Common Good at Bowdoin College in Maine in October 2007.
In November 2024, Frank Lowy received Israel’s highest civilian honour, the Israeli Presidential Medal of Honour. Australia Post also commemorated him in 2008 as one of Australia’s five leading living philanthropists, issuing a commemorative stamp in his name as part of the Australian Legends series.
Frank Lowy Philanthropy
Philanthropy has been central to Lowy’s life since long before his wealth reached its peak. He has stated that the philosophy of giving was instilled in him by his mother, who remained generous even during periods of acute hardship.
In 2003, he founded the Lowy Institute for International Policy to mark the 50th anniversary of his arrival in Australia, endowing it with A$30 million. The institute has become Australia’s leading independent foreign affairs think tank. His sons David and Steven both serve on its board.
In 2010, Lowy and his family donated A$10 million to build the UNSW Lowy Cancer Research Centre. That centre conducts research into cancer prevention and treatment. He has also donated substantially to the Victor Chang Cardiac Research Institute in Sydney.
In 2013, to honour the memory of his father Hugo, Lowy funded the restoration of a railway wagon that had transported Hungarian Jews to Auschwitz. He personally presided over its installation at the former camp.
That same year, he participated in the March of the Living at Auschwitz-Birkenau, sharing his father’s story with thousands of young students.
In 2022, he donated $18 million to Tel Aviv University. By 2013, the Lowy family’s total philanthropic giving over the preceding decade was estimated to exceed A$350 million.
Frank Lowy Wife
Frank Lowy married Shirley Rusanow in 1954, having met her at a Jewish dance when he was 21 years old. Their marriage lasted 66 years. Shirley was a philanthropist in her own right, founding the Chai Foundation, which funded research into cancer therapy.
Lady Shirley Lowy passed away in December 2020 in Tel Aviv, following a long battle with dementia. Lowy has spoken openly about the difficulty of losing her gradually to the illness. Her death ended one of Australia’s most enduring business and family partnerships.
Frank Lowy Children
Frank and Shirley Lowy had three sons: David, Peter, and Steven. All three have followed their father into business and philanthropy. David Lowy, the eldest, is also a musician and aviator, and serves as guitarist in the rock band The Dead Daisies.
He holds a Bachelor of Commerce from the University of New South Wales and manages the family’s private investment operations through the Lowy Family Group.
Peter and Steven Lowy served as joint chief executives of Westfield Corporation from 2011 until its sale in 2018. Steven Lowy holds the title of Deputy Chairman of the Lowy Institute and remains active in philanthropic causes, including as a board member of the Jewish Agency for Israel.
Peter also served as chairman of the University of Judaism and of Tribe Media Corp. All three sons are principals of the Lowy Family Group, continuing the family’s investment and philanthropic work across multiple continents.
Frank Lowy Net Worth
Frank Lowy’s estimated net worth is $8.08 billion as of 2026. The Bloomberg Billionaires Index tracks his wealth in real time, and as of mid-August 2026, his fortune has grown by approximately $700 million year-to-date.
The majority of his wealth derives from the proceeds of the 2018 sale of Westfield Corporation to Unibail-Rodamco. The Lowy family held approximately a 9.5% stake in Westfield prior to that merger, generating substantial cash proceeds and equity in Unibail. The family also sold its remaining Scentre stake in October 2019.
Today, the Lowy Family Group manages the family’s investment portfolio across real estate, finance, and technology. LFG operates offices in Sydney, New York, and Los Angeles. Lowy’s personal assets also include a luxury mega-yacht named Ilona IV and real estate holdings in Sydney’s Point Piper.
He has appeared on the Forbes Billionaires list and has been ranked among Australia’s five wealthiest individuals consistently for over two decades. Forbes placed him at number 402 on its 2026 Billionaires list.
Frank Lowy Social Media
Frank Lowy maintains a presence through the Lowy Institute’s digital platforms rather than personal social media accounts. The institute is active on X (formerly Twitter) and publishes regular commentary on international affairs and Australian foreign policy.
You can follow the institute’s work at @LowyInstitute on X, or visit the official Lowy Institute website for his latest lectures, speeches, and policy contributions.
The institute’s content reflects many of Lowy’s personal views on geopolitics, Australia’s role in the world, and the importance of international engagement.
The Bottom Line
Frank Lowy co-founded Westfield in 1960 and served as its executive chairman for 50 years, building it into a global portfolio of more than 100 shopping centres across four countries. The 2018 sale of Westfield Corporation to Unibail-Rodamco for $16 billion remains the largest corporate takeover in Australian history.
He survived the Holocaust as a child, lost his father at Auschwitz, fought in Israel’s 1948 war, and arrived in Australia at age 21 with one suitcase. That background shaped his approach to both business and giving, reflected in over A$350 million in philanthropic donations across his lifetime.
Lowy continues to chair the Lowy Institute and the Institute for National Security Studies in Tel Aviv, remaining active in international affairs and public life well into his 90s.
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