Blair Parry-Okeden (born 1950) is an

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...

-born

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

billionaire A billionaire is a person with a net worth of at least one billion (1,000,000,000, i.e., a thousand million) units of a given currency, usually of a major currency such as the United States dollar, euro, or pound sterling. The American busin ...

heiress and philanthropist. According to ''

Forbes Asia ''Forbes'' () is an American business magazine owned by Integrated Whale Media Investments and the Forbes family. Published eight times a year, it features articles on finance, industry, investing, and marketing topics. ''Forbes'' also re ...

'', she was Australia's richest person by

net worth Net worth is the value of all the non-financial and financial assets owned by an individual or institution minus the value of all its outstanding liabilities. Since financial assets minus outstanding liabilities equal net financial assets, net ...

in 2016. Parry-Okeden's wealth derives from

Cox Enterprises Cox Enterprises, Inc. is a privately held global conglomerate headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, United States, with approximately 55,000 employees and $21 billion in total revenue. Its major operating subsidiaries are Cox Communications and Co ...

Early life

Parry-Okeden was born in 1950 in

Honolulu Honolulu (; ) is the capital and largest city of the U.S. state of Hawaii, which is in the Pacific Ocean. It is an unincorporated county seat of the consolidated City and County of Honolulu, situated along the southeast coast of the island ...

Hawaii Hawaii ( ; haw, Hawaii or ) is a state in the Western United States, located in the Pacific Ocean about from the U.S. mainland. It is the only U.S. state outside North America, the only state that is an archipelago, and the only stat ...

, and educated there at La Pietra: Hawaii School for Girls, which was founded by her mother,

Barbara Cox Anthony Barbara Blair Cox Anthony (December 8, 1922 – May 28, 2007) was the youngest daughter of James M. Cox, a Democratic governor of Ohio, newspaper publisher and broadcaster. With her sister Anne Cox Chambers and her brother James M. Cox, Jr., she ...

. She then studied to become a teacher. Parry-Okeden's grandfather

James M. Cox James Middleton Cox (March 31, 1870 July 15, 1957) was an American businessman and politician who served as the 46th and 48th governor of Ohio, and a two-term U.S. Representative from Ohio. As the Democratic nominee for President of the United St ...

founded the privately held media company Cox Enterprises. Her brother

James C. Kennedy James Cox Kennedy (born November 29, 1947) is an American media executive and the current chair of Cox Enterprises, the conglomerate founded by his grandfather, James M. Cox. According to the 2017 Forbes billionaires list, he is the 105th-riches ...

is the chairman, and her aunt,

Anne Cox Chambers Anne Beau Cox Chambers (December 1, 1919 – January 31, 2020) was an American media proprietor, diplomat, and philanthropist who served as List of ambassadors of the United States to Belgium, United States Ambassador to Belgium from 1977 to 198 ...

, is the largest shareholder and sits on the board. In 2007, following the death of her mother, Parry-Okeden inherited 25% of Cox Enterprises. She presently has no role at the company.

Wealth

Parry-Okeden first came to prominence in

in March 2009 when ''Forbes Asia'' assessed her net worth at 7.0

billion Billion is a word for a large number, and it has two distinct definitions: *1,000,000,000, i.e. one thousand million, or (ten to the ninth power), as defined on the short scale. This is its only current meaning in English. * 1,000,000,000,000, i.e ...

. In January 2016, her net worth was assessed by ''Forbes'' at 9.8 billion; and in 2019 her wealth was estimated at 9.3 billion; however, she no longer appeared on the

list of Australians by net worth The ''Forbes'' list of Australia's 50 richest people is a list of Australia's fifty wealthiest individuals and families, ranked by personal net worth published annually by ''Forbes Asia'' magazine. The list provides a short summary on some of t ...

due to her US citizenship. Her philanthropic interests include the

Shore School , motto_translation = , established = , type = Independent school, Independent Single-sex education, single-sex and Mixed-sex education, co-educational Pre-school education, early learning, Primary sc ...

, the

University of Hawaii A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States, th ...

's Center on Aging, the Scone Grammar School, and Strathearn Village, a non-profit aged-care centre.

Personal life

Parry-Okeden has two sons, Andrew and Henry, with her ex-husband Simon Parry-Okeden. She lives in Australia, having moved there from the US in the 1970s to live with her husband at the time.

Published works

Notes

* ''Down by the gate'' is a children's book about an advertisement that

Mother Goose The figure of Mother Goose is the imaginary author of a collection of French fairy tales and later of English nursery rhymes. As a character, she appeared in a song, the first stanza of which often functions now as a nursery rhyme. This, howeve ...

placed in a newspaper.

References

1950 births American billionaires American expatriates in Australia Cox family Female billionaires Living people People from Hawaii {{US-business-bio-1950s-stub