Nelson John Meers AO (born 1938) was

Lord Mayor of Sydney The Right Honourable the Lord Mayor of Sydney is the head of the Council of the City of Sydney, which is the local government area covering the central business district of Sydney in the State of New South Wales, Australia. The Lord Mayor has be ...

between 1978 and 1980. He holds a degree in law from the

University of Sydney The University of Sydney (USYD), also known as Sydney University, or informally Sydney Uni, is a public research university located in Sydney, Australia. Founded in 1850, it is the oldest university in Australia and is one of the country's si ...

. Elected in 1974 as an Alderman of the

City of Sydney The City of Sydney is the local government area covering the Sydney central business district and surrounding inner city suburbs of the greater metropolitan area of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. Established by Act of Parliament in 1842, th ...

, Meers served in successive years as Chairman of Properties, Chairman of Works and Deputy Lord Mayor. Prior to his own term as Lord Mayor (which began upon the sudden death of incumbent

Leo Port Leo Weiser Port (7 September 192226 August 1978) was an Australian businessman, engineer, television personality, and Lord Mayor of Sydney from 1975 until his sudden death in 1978. Biography Leo Weiser Rapoport was born in Kraków, Poland i ...

), Meers established an extensive commercial and defamation practice as a partner of two leading international law firms. Meers is also a past President of the

Civic Reform Association The Civic Reform Association, variously known as the Civic Reform Movement and the Citizens' Reform Association, was an Australian non-aligned ratepayers' organisation that was formed by approximately seventy people at the Sydney Town Hall on 20 ...

. He stepped down from the mayoralty in 1980; Doug Sutherland succeeded him. In 2001 Meers, to formalise his personal tradition of philanthropic giving, founded the Nelson Meers Foundation. The Nelson Meers Foundation was the first ‘Prescribed Private Fund’ to commence operation in Australia. Four years later, the Foundation won the Goldman Sachs JBWere Artsupport Australia Philanthropy Leadership Award. Meers is married with four children and eight grandchildren, and still lives in Sydney. His daughter Samantha Meers is the chief executive officer of the Nelson Meers Foundation. Nelson Meers Group is a large hotel group based in Sydney with a portfolio of some of Sydney’s largest hotels including the second most profitable hotel for pokies, the Ambulance Station Hotel in Auburn. Family patriarch Nelson Meers bought his first hotel in 1987 after card machines were allowed into pubs and told the Daily Telegraph in 2004 he would have bought more if he had known poker machines were on the horizon.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Meers, Nelson 1938 births Living people Mayors and Lord Mayors of Sydney Civic Reform Association politicians Officers of the Order of Australia Deputy Lord Mayors of Sydney