Lowy, Frank (1930-…), is an Australian businessman and philanthropist who co-founded Westfield Group, one of the world’s largest shopping center empires. Westfield Group operated more than 100 malls in Australia , New Zealand , the United Kingdom , and the United States . In 2014, Westfield Group became Westfield Corporation after splitting off its Australian and New Zealand operations.
Lowy was born on Oct. 22, 1930, in Fiľakovo, Czechoslovakia (now Slovakia). His family, who were Jewish, lived in Hungary during World War II (1939-1945). When Lowy was 13, his father was captured by the Nazis. Germany’s Nazi government had seized Hungary in March 1944. Lowy’s father, as well as more than 1 million other people—mostly Jews—was killed at the Auschwitz concentration camp in German-occupied Poland. Lowy’s family became separated, and he moved around frequently, traveling to France and Israel while still in his teens. The war and the resulting disruption to his family life brought Lowy’s formal education to an end at age 14. Although many of his family members were killed during the war, Lowy reunited with his mother and siblings in Australia in 1952.
In 1959, Lowy and his business partner, John Saunders, founded the Westfield Development Corporation and opened their first shopping center in Blacktown, a suburb of Sydney , Australia. Gradually, their shopping center business expanded across Australia. By 1977, Westfield had established its first shopping center in the United States. The company later changed its name to the Westfield Group. The company also set up shopping centers in New Zealand and the United Kingdom, becoming one of the largest retail property companies in the world.
In 2014, Westfield Group split its local and international operations into two independent companies, Westfield Corporation and Scentre Group, with Lowy serving as chairman of the board of both companies. Westfield Corporation owns and operates shopping centers in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Europe. Scentre Group owns and operates shopping centers in Australia and New Zealand. In 2016, Lowy stepped down as chairman of Scentre but continued to serve as chairman of Westfield. Two of his three sons work in the company, and the third manages the family’s personal wealth. Frank Lowy is one of Australia’s greatest private philanthropists. He has donated hundreds of millions of dollars to various causes, including research on heart disease and cancer.
