Victor Smorgon dies, aged 96
 
AJN STAFF
INDUSTRIAL entrepreneur and philanthropist Victor Smorgon died on Friday morning aged 96.¬†Born in 1917 in Ukraine during a time of serious political upheaval and pogroms against the Jewish population, Mr Smorgon’s father Norman sought a better life for his family, immigrating to Australia.
Shortly after their arrival, Norman opened a kosher butcher in Lygon Street with his two brothers.¬†Victor joined his father, demonstrating his business acumen as the butcher grew into an industrial empire expanding into steel, plastics, paper, forestry and property.¬†When asked to explain his success, Mr Smorgon famously said: “If you can make sausages, you can make anything.”
As the Smorgon business empire grew — eventually become Australia’s wealthiest family — so too did the family’s reputation for philanthropy, notably to the National Galleries of Australia and Victoria, the Victorian Arts Centre and the Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre, in addition to many Jewish causes from the United Israel Appeal to Jewish Care and Melbourne’s Jewish schools.¬†It was Norman Smorgon who, perhaps with foresight, had taught his son that “the more you give to people in need, the more you will get back.”
Victor married Loti Kiffer at East Melbourne Synagogue in 1937 and the couple had four daughters who established the Victor Smorgon Foundation, focussing on children, youth issues and medical research.The Smorgons were also enthusiastic art collectors, donating many of their prized contemporary works to the Sydney Museum of Contemporary Art.
“I followed the example of my father and my grandfather,” he said in an interview.¬†”All of my children and my grandchildren, they were all brought up like that and they do the same thing. They don’t all contribute to the same fields but they’re all involved in giving and helping in some way. It makes for a full life.”¬†He is expected to be buried at the Melbourne Chevra Kadisha cemetery on Monday.
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