Imelda Joan Roche (born ) and her last husband, Bill Roche (2022), is an Australian entrepreneur and property investor who established
Nutrimetics International (Australia) Pty Limited in 1968.
Biography
The couple met in a supermarket in 1956 and started in business selling lamps door-to-door.
In 1968 the couple bought the Australian franchise to Nutrimetics, starting with $6,000 of stock. In 1991, they acquired the worldwide interests of Nutrimetics International. The Nutrimetics Group was sold in 1997 to the
Sara Lee Corporation
The Sara Lee Corporation was an American consumer-goods company based in Downers Grove, Illinois. It had operations in more than 40 countries and sold its products in over 180 countries. Its international operations were headquartered in Utrec ...
. At the time of sale the company had a turnover of A$250 million a year.
Bill and Imelda Roche expanded into property development and investment. They started their real estate investments with the purchase of a Sydney warehouse in the late 1950s. They subsequently owned residential land subdivisions, rural properties and office complexes.
Imelda Roche was Acting
Chancellor of
Bond University from 5 August 1999 to 25 November 1999, and served as Chancellor from 25 November 1999 to 30 May 2003. In 1995, Imelda Roche was appointed an
Officer of the Order of Australia for her distinguished service too business and commerce, to women's affairs, and to the community.
The Roche Group owns several Hunter Valley landmarks, including the award-winning Hunter Valley Gardens, the live concert venue Roche Estate and Harrigan's Irish Pub. In 2020 there was controversy around a Roche Group housing development planned at
West Wallsend. For almost ten years, activists were fighting to protect an Aboriginal women's site situated on land slated for development. Despite both the NSW Government and the Australian Government recognising the site's significance via legislation, the Roche Group appeared to push ahead with plans that could see the Butterfly Cave women's cultural site desecrated or damaged.
Bill Roche passed away on 30 June 2022, aged 87 years.
Roche and her late husband have four children.
Net worth
The
net worth of Bill and Imelda Roche was estimated at 1.42
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. ...
in the 2019 Rich List of the
''Australian Financial Review''. Following the 2022 death of Bill Roche, the net worth of Imelda Roche was reassessed at 1.57 bn in the 2023 Rich List.
Gallery
Klarfeld Expressions of Love Centerpiece of Hunter Valley Gardens Pokolbin NSW.jpg, Imelda Roche life size bronze sculpture with her grandchildren as centrepiece of rose garden in Hunter Valley Gardens by Linda Klarfeld
Klarfeld William Roche AO Founder of Hunter Valley Gardens.jpg, Life-size bronze statue of William Roche outside Hunter Valley Gardens by sculptor Linda Klarfeld
References
Living people
Australian businesspeople
Bond University chancellors
Year of birth missing (living people)
Australian billionaires
Roche, Imelda
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