Mary Elizabeth Fairfax, (formerly Symonds, born Marie Wein; 15 August 1922 – 17 September 2017) was a Polish-born Australian businesswoman and philanthropist. As the third wife of wealthy media proprietor Sir

Warwick Fairfax Warwick Fairfax (born December 1960) is an Australian businessman and consultant based in the United States. He was well known in the 1990s as the media heir and business tycoon who privatised the publicly listed media company, John Fairfax Hold ...

, she became known as Lady Fairfax upon his knighthood in 1967. She inherited most of his vast fortune upon his death in January 1987, becoming one of Australia's richest women.The lady who's still giving her all
Lawson, Valerie '' Sydney Morning Herald'' 15 August 2002 accessed 16 May 2012

Biography

Marie Wein was born into a Jewish family in

Warsaw Warsaw ( pl, Warszawa, ), officially the Capital City of Warsaw,, abbreviation: ''m.st. Warszawa'' is the capital and largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the River Vistula in east-central Poland, and its population is officia ...

, the daughter of Anna (née Szpiegelglass) and Kevin Wein, the son of a miller. She came to Australia with her parents in the late 1920s to escape European anti-Semitism. She attended the Presbyterian Ladies College, Sydney, where she won prizes for history and chemistry. She eventually came to own several Sydney dress shops. In 1945, Wein married solicitor Cedric Symonds, with whom she had one son, Garth. She began having an affair with Warwick Oswald Fairfax, a scion of the

Fairfax family Members of the Fairfax Family were prominent as Australian media proprietors, especially in the area of newspaper publishing through the company John Fairfax and Sons (later known as Fairfax Media, although the Fairfax family no longe ...

, in the late 1950s. She divorced her husband in 1958 and married Fairfax on 4 July 1959, the day after he divorced his second wife. She converted from

Judaism Judaism ( he, ''Yahăḏūṯ'') is an Abrahamic, monotheistic, and ethnic religion comprising the collective religious, cultural, and legal tradition and civilization of the Jewish people. It has its roots as an organized religion in t ...

Catholicism The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

before the wedding. They had three children: Warwick Jr., Anna and Charles. After the death of her husband Sir Warwick in 1987, Fairfax continued to live in the family home, ''Fairwater'', which was owned by the

since 1900. She moved to

Manhattan Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...

, New York, in 1988, purchasing a

penthouse apartment A penthouse is an apartment or unit on the highest floor of an apartment building, condominium, hotel or tower. Penthouses are typically differentiated from other apartments by luxury features. The term 'penthouse' originally referred, and s ...

known as the "Chateau in the Sky", atop the

Pierre Hotel The Pierre is a luxury hotel located at 2 East 61st Street, at the intersection of that street with Fifth Avenue, in Manhattan, New York City, facing Central Park. Designed by Schultze & Weaver, the hotel opened in 1930 with 100+ employees, ...

, Fifth Avenue, for US$12 million. She sold the apartment in 1999 to financier Martin Zweig for $21.5 million and returned to Australia. The penthouse in Manhattan eventually became New York's most expensive penthouse and was put up for sale in 2013 for an asking price of US$125 million. However, after four years on the market, the property sold at a deep discount for $44 million to

Howard Lutnick Howard William Lutnick (born July 14, 1961) is an American billionaire businessman, who succeeded Bernard Gerald Cantor as the head of Cantor Fitzgerald. Lutnick is the chairman and CEO of Cantor Fitzgerald and BGC Partners. After losing 658 ...

, the CEO of

Cantor Fitzgerald Cantor Fitzgerald, L.P. is an American financial services firm that was founded in 1945. It specializes in institutional equity, fixed income sales and trading, and serving the middle market with investment banking services, prime brokerage, an ...

. At the time of Fairfax's purchase of the property, previous tenants had included John Paul Getty, Elizabeth Taylor, Yves Saint-Laurent and Mohamed al-Fayed. Lady Fairfax died of natural causes at her family home on 17 September 2017. Fairwater-1

Honours, wealth and philanthropy

In recognition of her service to the community, Fairfax was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in 1976. She was made a

Member of the Order of Australia The Order of Australia is an Order (distinction), honour that recognises Australian citizens and other persons for outstanding achievement and service. It was established on 14 February 1975 by Elizabeth II, Monarchy of Australia, Queen of Aus ...

(AM) in 1988, and upgraded to

Companion of the Order of Australia The Order of Australia is an honour that recognises Australian citizens and other persons for outstanding achievement and service. It was established on 14 February 1975 by Elizabeth II, Queen of Australia, on the advice of the Australian Gove ...

(AC) in 2005, for "service to the community of wide ranging social and economic benefit through support and philanthropy for ongoing medical research initiatives, improved health care opportunities, nurturing artistic talent in young performers, and preservation of diverse cultural heritage". Fairfax's personal wealth in 2012 was estimated by the '' BRW'' at 418 million. Her assets include the residential land development, Harrington Park, near

Camden, New South Wales Camden is a historic town and suburb of Sydney, New South Wales, located 65 kilometres south-west of the Sydney central business district. Camden was the administrative centre for the local government area of Camden Council until July/August ...

. Harrington Park was the name of the cattle property once owned by Sir Warwick and Lady Fairfax. Lady Fairfax was a chairman, founder and president of the Friends of

The Australian Ballet The Australian Ballet is the largest classical ballet company in Australia. It was founded by J. C. Williamson Theatres Ltd and the Australian Elizabethan Theatre Trust in 1962, with the English-born dancer, teacher, repetiteur and direc ...

and was the president of the Australian Opera Foundation during the 1970s. Her philanthropy includes gifts of 750,000 to St Vincent's Foundation and 250,000 to the Garvan Foundation in 2002 on the occasion of her eightieth birthday.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Fairfax, Mary 1922 births 2017 deaths Australian Officers of the Order of the British Empire Australian people of Polish-Jewish descent Australian women philanthropists Australian philanthropists Australian women in business Businesspeople from Sydney Companions of the Order of Australia Converts to Roman Catholicism from Judaism Australian Roman Catholics

Mary Mary may refer to: People * Mary (name), a feminine given name (includes a list of people with the name) Religious contexts * New Testament people named Mary, overview article linking to many of those below * Mary, mother of Jesus, also calle ...

Naturalised citizens of Australia People educated at the Presbyterian Ladies' College, Sydney Polish emigrants to Australia Members of the Order of Australia 19th-century Australian women 20th-century Australian women 20th-century philanthropists 20th-century women philanthropists