Kevin John Parry (1933 – 26 November 2010) was a businessman from

Western Australia Western Australia (commonly abbreviated as WA) is a state of Australia occupying the western percent of the land area of Australia excluding external territories. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to th ...

, most noted for his backing of the Taskforce '87 syndicate which unsuccessfully defended the

1987 File:1987 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The MS Herald of Free Enterprise capsizes after leaving the Port of Zeebrugge in Belgium, killing 193; Northwest Airlines Flight 255 crashes after takeoff from Detroit Metropolitan Airport, k ...

America's Cup The America's Cup, informally known as the Auld Mug, is a trophy awarded in the sport of sailing. It is the oldest international competition still operating in any sport. America's Cup match races are held between two sailing yachts: one f ...

Fremantle Fremantle () () is a port city in Western Australia, located at the mouth of the Swan River in the metropolitan area of Perth, the state capital. Fremantle Harbour serves as the port of Perth. The Western Australian vernacular diminutive for ...

. The defence cost over $20 million and built and raced three

12-metre class The 12 Metre class is a rating class for racing sailboats that are designed to the International rule. It enables fair competition between boats that rate in the class whilst retaining the freedom to experiment with the details of their designs. ...

boats: ''Kookaburra I'', ''Kookaburra II'', and ''

Kookaburra III ''Kookaburra III'' (KA 15) was the Australian 12 Metre yacht sailed by Iain Murray in the 1987 America's Cup held off of Fremantle, Western Australia. Murray won the Defender Selection and ''Kookaburra III'' represented Australia in the America ...

''. In his younger years, Parry had been a noted Australian

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding tea ...

player. He later established the Perth Heat baseball team as well as funding the first purpose-built baseball stadium in Perth,

Parry Field Parry Field is a former sports venue in Belmont, a suburb of Perth, Western Australia. The ground is best known for being the home of baseball team Perth Heat between 1989 and 1997. The stadium was built in 1983 on the site of Belmont Oval whic ...

Belmont Belmont may refer to: People * Belmont (surname) Places * Belmont Abbey (disambiguation) * Belmont Historic District (disambiguation) * Belmont Hotel (disambiguation) * Belmont Park (disambiguation) * Belmont Plantation (disambiguation) * Belmon ...

. Parry headed the diversified Parry Corporation group (formerly Parry's Esplanade Limited and before that Parry's Department Stores), which included the

Perth Perth is the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Western Australia. It is the fourth most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a population of 2.1 million (80% of the state) living in Greater Perth in 2020. Perth is ...

-based Parry's department stores which he developed from his father's backyard furniture workshop. In 1986, Parry Corporation was ranked 96 in a listing of the top 100 Australian non-financial firms. The West Perth

Scitech SciTech, Scitech or Sci Tech may refer to: Businesses and organizations * Scitech, a not-for-profit science and technology organization in Western Australia * Sci-Tech Daresbury, a science-related business campus near Daresbury, Cheshire, England * ...

centre was supported by Parry until financial difficulties ended his involvement. Parry was associated with other high-flying Perth entrepreneurs in funding the

Australian Labor Party The Australian Labor Party (ALP), also simply known as Labor, is the major centre-left political party in Australia, one of two major parties in Australian politics, along with the centre-right Liberal Party of Australia. The party forms the f ...

through a structure named the

John Curtin Foundation Formed in Perth, Western Australia in October 1984, the John Curtin Foundation was a fundraising organisation for the Australian Labor Party which attracted the sponsorship of a powerful group of wealthy businessmen, placing them in a privileged c ...

, formed in October 1984 to harvest corporate funding for and facilitate political patronage of the federal Hawke government and the notorious WA Inc state government of Brian Burke. Parry Corporation suffered considerable financial difficulties after the

1987 Stock Market Crash Black Monday is the name commonly given to the global, sudden, severe, and largely unexpected stock market crash on Monday, October 19, 1987. In Australia and New Zealand, the day is also referred to as ''Black Tuesday'' because of the time z ...

and in late 1987, Parry lost control of the company. He later headed a small Perth-based homeopathic company Astop Biohealth with his son, Cameron. Parry was appointed an Officer 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 ...

in 1988. This award was rescinded in 1996 after he was charged with stealing $75,000 from the Western Australian State

Superannuation A pension (, from Latin ''pensiō'', "payment") is a fund into which a sum of money is added during an employee's employment years and from which payments are drawn to support the person's retirement from work in the form of periodic payments ...

Board On 26 November 2010, Parry died in a car accident near his home in Bullsbrook.Perth businessman Kevin Parry dies in car crash
watoday.com.au; accessed 13 September 2016.

References

External links

Astop Biohealth
{{DEFAULTSORT:Parry, Kevin 1933 births People from Perth, Western Australia Australian businesspeople Australian male sailors (sport) 1987 America's Cup sailors Former Officers of the Order of Australia Road incident deaths in Western Australia 2010 deaths Perth Heat Australian baseball players