Mary Elizabeth Fairfax, (formerly Symonds, born Marie Wein; 15 August 1922 – 17 September 2017) was an 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 Hol ...

, 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 ''The Sydney Morning Herald'' (''SMH'') is a daily tabloid newspaper published in Sydney, Australia, and owned by Nine Entertainment. Founded in 1831 as the ''Sydney Herald'', the ''Herald'' is the oldest continuously published newspaper in ...

'' 15 August 2002 accessed 16 May 2012

Biography

Marie Wein was born into a Jewish family in

Warsaw Warsaw, officially the Capital City of Warsaw, is the capital and List of cities and towns in Poland, largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the Vistula, River Vistula in east-central Poland. Its population is officially estimated at ...

, 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 in 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 long ...

, 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 () is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic, Monotheism, monotheistic, ethnic religion that comprises the collective spiritual, cultural, and legal traditions of the Jews, Jewish people. Religious Jews regard Judaism as their means of o ...

Catholicism The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

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 ( ) is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the Boroughs of New York City, five boroughs of New York City. Coextensive with New York County, Manhattan is the County statistics of the United States#Smallest, larg ...

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York New York may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * ...

, in 1988, purchasing a

penthouse apartment A penthouse is an apartment or unit traditionally 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 re ...

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, n ...

for US$12 million. She sold the apartment in 1999 to financier

Martin Zweig Martin Edward Zweig (July 2, 1942 – February 18, 2013) was an American stock investor, investment adviser, and financial analyst. According to ''Forbes'' magazine, he was renowned for his "eccentric and lavish lifestyle" and his residence ...

for $21.5 million and returned to Australia. At the time of Fairfax's purchase of the property, previous tenants had included John Paul Getty,

Elizabeth Taylor Dame Elizabeth Rosemond Taylor (February 27, 1932 – March 23, 2011) was an English and American actress. She began her career as a child actress in the early 1940s and was one of the most popular stars of classical Hollywood cinema in the 19 ...

, Yves Saint-Laurent and

Mohamed al-Fayed Mohamed Abdel Moneim Al-Fayed (; 27 January 192930 August 2023) was an Egyptian businessman whose residence and primary business interests were in the United Kingdom from the mid-1960s. His business interests included ownership of the Hôtel R ...

. Lady Fairfax died of natural causes at her family home on 17 September 2017. Fairwater-1

Philanthropy, wealth and honours

Lady Fairfax was a chairman, founder and president of the Friends of

The Australian Ballet The Australian Ballet (TAB) 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 a ...

and was the president of the

Australian Opera Opera Australia is the principal opera company in Australia. Based in Sydney, New South Wales, its performance season at the Sydney Opera House accompanied by the Opera Australia Orchestra runs for approximately eight months of the year, with ...

Foundation during the 1970s. Her philanthropy included 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. Fairfax's personal wealth in 2012 was estimated by the '' BRW'' at 418 million. Her assets included 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 2016 a ...

. Harrington Park was the name of the cattle property once owned by Sir Warwick and Lady Fairfax. In recognition of her service to the community, Fairfax was appointed an

Officer of the Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding valuable service in a wide range of useful activities. It comprises five classes of awards across both civil and military divisions, the most senior two o ...

(OBE) in 1976. She was made a

Member of the Order of Australia The Order of Australia is an Australian honours and awards system, Australian honour that recognises Australian citizens and other persons for outstanding achievement and service. It was established on 14 February 1975 by Elizabeth II, Monarch ...

(AM) in 1988, and upgraded to

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

(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".

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 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 female given name (includes a list of people with the name) Religion * New Testament people named Mary, overview article linking to many of those below * Mary, mother of Jesus, also called the Blesse ...

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