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Topic: Kerry Packer, dead at 68
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December 26, 2005 10:05 P.M. |
Now there is a real loss to polo. RIP.
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| Iain Holmes
December 26, 2005 10:24 P.M. |
Having been to Ellerston I can certain attest for this mans love of the sport. Certainly a sad day!! Hopefully we will see Jamie take the reins. He also funded the majority of my polo while I lived in Melbourne, albeit not personally, but via the Monte Carlo room at his Casino!!!
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| Lynn Bremner
December 26, 2005 10:41 P.M. |
Dec. 27th, ’05: Sydney – Kerry Packer, Australia’s richest man died in his sleep overnight. Packer is survived by his wife Rosyln and children James and Gretel. The cause of death was not stated in the report. Packer was 68, with an estimated fortune of approximately $6.9 Billion.
Kerry Francis Bullmore Packer (born 17 December 1937 Packer is the major shareholder in Publishing and Broadcasting Limited (PBL), which owns the Nine television network and Australian Consolidated Press, which produces many of Australia's top-selling magazines. Packer is involved in a number of other gambling and tourism ventures, notably the Crown Casino in Melbourne.The Packer family has long been involved in media, Packer's father, Sir Frank Packer was also a media mogul, and his son, James Packer, is Executive Chairman of PBL. Packer was a big fan, player and contributor to the polo industry. We will post more details on his history in polo in a separate posting.
During one polo match, Parker suffered from a heart attack and was clinically dead for 8 minutes until emergency medical officers revived him by electric shock treatment.
Packer is most famous for his influence on the sport of Cricket. In 1977 Packer secretly hired the world’s best cricket players for a series of one- day/night matches for his Channel Nine Australian television network. "The so-called 'Packer revolution' in the 1970s has left a lasting legacy in the way the game is played," Creagh O'Connor, Cricket Australia's current chairman said in a statement.
"One-day international cricket is now an international phenomena as a result of Kerry Packer."
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| Lynn Bremner
December 26, 2005 10:47 P.M. |
Please feel free to post notes about Kerry and his involvement in polo. Or notes to his family. If anyone has any photos of Kerry please e-mail them to lynn@thepolozone.com. We would like to build a virtual memorial in memory of Kerry Packer. Thanks. Lynn
The Polo Zone
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December 27, 2005 05:14 A.M. |
Read the facts on Packer here:
http://www.cnn.com/2005/WORLD/asiapcf/12/26/obit.packer.ap/index.html
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December 27, 2005 06:00 A.M. |
From the London Sun
http://www.thesun.co.uk/article/0,,2-2005600104,,00.html
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| Steve Crowder
December 27, 2005 11:39 A.M. |
The news of the loss of Kerry Packer has to be major news around the World he was that well known. He and Peter Brant made polo what it is today with the big teams and the super organizations they established. I read a book about Kerry Packer a few years ago and the story was amazing. Here was a real person I actually knew and he was a giant of a person. He was not a poor boy starting up, but not rich either. He also had a problem with dyslexia and “read words backwards” it said in the book. I am not sure of this, but I am sure when Kerry wanted something done, it got done no matter where it was. He built an empire of polo in the heart of the Polo World in Argentina which is still standing called Ellerstina. The team named after his ranch, Ellerstina, was the power of this years high-goal Open Tournaments. We were at his place in Australia which was located many hours and miles from a city. So he just decided to build his own town complete with theater, golf course, stores and the best polo fields in the World and a airport too. He also took on the UK Govt. and built an unbelievable place in Cowdray as well which is near Midhurst. Kerry Packer will be missed in the polo world no doubt. His son James, who won the Gold Cup in England about 8 years ago or maybe more, was on his way to being the best amateur in the World. James decided to work and is running some of the family businesses. Lucky for polo James has recently started playing again. KP was also famous for the Packer-whacker, a heart starter for heart failure which happened to him a few years ago. The story is told that he was playing polo and had a heart attack out at his ranch in Austrailia. An ambulance just happened to be near and had a device to resume the heart. It worked and KP was back and running soon again. They say he funded the project to put one of these devices in every ambulance in Australia and they became known as the Packer-Wackers. So long to a very big man and a very big builder of polo
around the World. –Steve Crowder
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January 11, 2006 1:45 P.M. |
Rest in Peace Kerry.
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| car insurance
May 25, 2006 3:22 P.M. |
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