Personal Life
In 1959, Richard Pratt married Jeanne (née Lasker) who was a journalist. She was born in Poland, and before their marriage lived in Sydney. After the success of Visy Industries, they enjoyed a lavish lifestyle, with a private jet and a range of apartments, including a penthouse at the Sherry-Netherland Hotel in New York City; their main home was the historic mansion Raheen, in the Melbourne suburb of Kew, the former residence of Roman Catholic Archbishop Daniel Mannix. The Pratts have had three children, Anthony, Heloise Waislitz, who is married to businessman Alex Waislitz, and Fiona Geminder.
Another daughter, Paula, was born in 1997 to his longtime mistress, Sydney socialite Shari-Lea Hitchcock. In 2000 this affair became the subject of widespread media attention owing to a court case involving Ms Hitchcock and a nanny hired to look after her daughter. At the time, Mr Pratt was accused of trying to pay hush money to the nanny who had launched legal action against Ms Hitchcock.
After a well-publicised battle with prostate cancer, Richard Pratt died at his Kew residence on 28 April 2009, the day after all charges against him had been dropped due to his ill-health.
Read more about this topic: Richard Pratt (Australian Businessman)
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