Samuel Hewlings Chisholm AO (8 October 1939 – 9 July 2018) was a

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

-born Australian media executive who was a significant figure in the Australian media.

Career

Chisholm attended

King's College, Auckland King's College (Latin: ''Collegium Regis''; mi, Kīngi Kāreti), often informally referred to simply as King's, is an independent secondary boarding and day school in New Zealand. It educates over 1000 pupils, aged 13 to 18 years. King's was o ...

. Chisholm had been for several years the sales director of

Kerry Packer Kerry Francis Bullmore Packer (17 December 1937 – 26 December 2005) was an Australian media tycoon, and was considered one of Australia's most powerful media proprietors of the twentieth century. The Packer family company owned a controlling ...

's Channel Nine before he was appointed Managing Director in 1977. The network was taken over by

Alan Bond Alan Bond (22 April 1938 – 5 June 2015) was an English-born Australian businessman noted for his high-profile and often corrupt business dealings. These included his central role in the WA Inc scandals of the 1980s, and what was at the time ...

in 1988. In mid 1990 he moved to the UK to work for Packer's rival

Rupert Murdoch Keith Rupert Murdoch ( ; born 11 March 1931) is an Australian-born American business magnate. Through his company News Corp, he is the owner of hundreds of local, national, and international publishing outlets around the world, including ...

, rescuing the newly established British Sky Broadcasting

BSkyB Sky UK Limited is a British broadcaster and telecommunications company that provides television and broadband Internet services, fixed line and mobile telephone services to consumers and businesses in the United Kingdom. It is a subsidiary of ...

from financial problems after the merger of

Sky The sky is an unobstructed view upward from the surface of the Earth. It includes the atmosphere and outer space. It may also be considered a place between the ground and outer space, thus distinct from outer space. In the field of astronomy, ...

and

British Satellite Broadcasting British Satellite Broadcasting (BSB) was a television company, headquartered in London, that provided direct broadcast satellite television services to the United Kingdom. They started broadcasting on 25 March 1990. The company was merged with ...

. In 2000 he returned to Australia and in 2003 received a double lung transplant. In 2005 at the request of Kerry Packer he returned briefly to the Nine Network as Acting Chief Executive.

Awards

On 25 November 2013 he was appointed an Honorary 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 ...

. On 19 February 2014 he was awarded the King's College honours tie in

Auckland Auckland (pronounced ) ( mi, Tāmaki Makaurau) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. The List of New Zealand urban areas by population, most populous urban area in the country and the List of cities in Oceania by po ...

for outstanding achievement in his selected career.

Benefactor

When leading Australian television personality

Graham Kennedy Graham Cyril Kennedy AO (15 February 1934 – 25 May 2005) was an Australian entertainer, comedian and variety performer, as well as a personality and star of radio, theatre, television and film. He often performed in the style of vaudevilli ...

became ill in his later years, an anonymous benefactor came forward and donated a substantial sum (reported to be 150,000) for Kennedy's ongoing support and health care. On 27 May 2005, two days after Kennedy's death, his close friend and carer

Noeline Brown Noeline Mabel Brown (born 3 October 1938), credited also as Noelene Brown, is an Australian actress and comedian. She has appeared in numerous films, television shows, theatrical productions and radio programs dating back to 1959. Life and c ...

confirmed that the benefactor was Sam Chisholm.Kennedy's Final Farewell
/ref>

Death

Chisholm died on 9 July 2018, after a short battle with an illness, with his wife Sue and daughter Caroline by his side.Sam Chisholm dead at 78
''

Daily Telegraph Daily or The Daily may refer to: Journalism * Daily newspaper, newspaper issued on five to seven day of most weeks * ''The Daily'' (podcast), a podcast by ''The New York Times'' * ''The Daily'' (News Corporation), a defunct US-based iPad new ...

'', 10 July 2018

References

External links

Sam Chisholm
at ''

Bloomberg Businessweek ''Bloomberg Businessweek'', previously known as ''BusinessWeek'', is an American weekly business magazine published fifty times a year. Since 2009, the magazine is owned by New York City-based Bloomberg L.P. The magazine debuted in New York City ...

''
Sam Chisholm, Return of the great sacker
Raymond Snoddy, ''

The Independent ''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publis ...

'', 5 December 2005 {{DEFAULTSORT:Chisholm, Sam 1939 births 2018 deaths Australian media executives Honorary Officers of the Order of Australia Logie Award winners Lung transplant recipients People educated at King's College, Auckland