By ABC.
Controversial business tycoon and former Australian of the Year Alan Bond has died in a Perth hospital.
Mr Bond, 77, died following complications from heart surgery he underwent earlier this week.
Mr Bond’s children John Bond and Jodie Fewster, speaking outside Fiona Stanley Hospital, said Mr Bond had passed away a short time ago.
“His body finally gave out after heroic efforts of everyone involved here at the intensive care unit at Fiona Stanley Hospital,” John Bond said.
“He never regained consciousness after his surgery on Tuesday.”
John Bond paid tribute to his father, whom he said would be greatly missed.
“To a lot of people, Dad was a larger-than-life character who started with nothing and did so much,” he said.
“He really did experience the highs and lows of life.
“To us, however, he was just Dad – a father who tried his best to be the best dad he could.”
John Bond said his father, a grandfather of eight, had remained close to his ex-wife Eileen, who is believed to be on her way to Perth from her UK home.
“Mum and Dad were always great soul mates who never broke their connection, even though he could be very infuriating to her,” he said.
“She was very sad she did not get back to see him one last time, though they did recently catch up and have a meal together in London.”
He said his father had greatly missed his second wife Diana Bliss, who died in 2012.
The family was grateful for the support they had received since his father’s surgery, he said.
“Dad was vitally interested in everything that we did with that ever-enquiring mind of his,” John Bond said.
“We only half joked to our friends that you had to have a five-year business plan ready when you first met him.
“We’ll all miss him very much. He’s had a great influence on many people and we’re heartfelt in our thanks for all the kind messages of support we’ve received.”
Mr Bond was part of the syndicate that won the America’s Cup in 1983, breaking the United States’ 132-year stranglehold on the title and ending the longest winning streak in the history of sport.
Mr Bond was one of WA’s most prominent business figures for more than a decade and at one stage was the nation’s largest brewer.
He also set up Australia’s first privately funded university.
But his empire crumbled in the 1990s, eventually being bankrupted for $622 million, which still stands as the second-largest personal bankruptcy in history.
He also served time in jail for siphoning off $1.2 billion to prop up his ailing Bond Corporation.
After a 19-year absence from the nation’s rich list, Mr Bond resurfaced in 2008 with a personal fortune estimated to be worth $265 million.
Finance analyst Tim Treadgold described Mr Bond’s death as “the end of an era”.
“His death, as you said, wasn’t a shock,” he told the ABC.
“But it does represent the end of an era. He is the last of the big players from the 80s to pass on.
“We’ve already said goodbye to Robert Holmes a Court, Laurie Connell, Kevin Parry and Peter Beckwith who were major players in the period up to the ’87 stock market crash.
This article was originally published by ABC News.
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