Harvard Business School
The Harvard School of Business Administration was founded in 1908. George Elton Mayo, born in Adelaide and a lecturer in mental and moral philosophy at the University of Queensland, was a Professor in Industrial Research at the Business School from 1926 until his retirement in 1947.
Kwang Lim Kwong
On 6 January 1897 a cyclone severely damaged the Chinese quarter of Port Darwin. The next day, Yuen Shi (the third of four 'wives' of the merchant Kwong Sue Duk) gave birth to Kwang Lim Kwong. Kwang Lim moved to China with his mother at age 12 and was educated in Hongkong, Shanghai and Hangchow. He arrived in the United States in 1914 to study at Wooster College in Ohio, where he was active in the Wooster Chinese Students’ Club. He transferred to Columbia University for the 1917–1918 year where he organized a Chinese student rowing crew and the New York Chinese Students’ Soccer Club. In September 1918, he joined the British Forces in France as a Y.M.C.A. secretary with the Chinese Labor Corps. After the Armistice, he graduated from Columbia and entered the Graduate School of Business Administration (1919–1921) from where he obtained his M.B.A. with a thesis on The possibility of the establishment of the leather shoe industry in China.
During his time in Boston, K. L. Kwong was president of the local Chinese Y.M.C.A. and spearheaded the financial campaign to build a new building for the Y.M.C.A. He was chairman of the Chinese Students’ Christian Council in Boston and an advisor of foreign students for the Phillips Brooks House Association. It was later stated in the Australian press that while Kwong was at Harvard, he was ranked the seventh most physically fit man in a survey of 200,000 America students. In June 1921, he married Lillian Cheng Fong of Boston. The newly-wed couple spent eight months in Australia before settling in China.
K. L. Kwong became professor of the College of Commerce of the National Southeastern University and also of Tse Chi University, Shanghai. In 1927, he was the manager of a Chinese soccer team that toured Australia. During that tour a son (Robert) was born in Melbourne. The following year he joined the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Nationalist Government taking charge of its publicity and intelligence office at Shanghai. In 1930, he was appointed Chinese Consul-General in the Philippine Islands, a post he relinquished in 1934 to become the Chinese Consul-General in San Francisco. He was recalled to China the following year where he was briefly the managing director of Nanking Municipal Electric Power Company. In 1937, he returned to San Francisco as president of the Bank of Canton. He died in San Francisco in 1955.
He was the older half-brother of Victor Kwonglee Kwong who attended Harvard College in 1927–1928.
Harold Christopher Luth
Harold Christopher Luth (1890– 1982) was born at Charlton, Victoria. He studied law at the University of Melbourne, qualifying as a barrister and solicitor in 1915. He practised briefly at Mansfield Victoria before enlisting in February 1916. He was wounded near Ypres (1917). He spent 1919 at the London School of Economics before returning to Australia in 1920 to practise law at Yarrawonga and Charlton. He attended the Graduate School of Business 1930–1931, receiving the MBA, before returning to work in the family business at Charlton. He later moved to Melbourne where he founded the Noise Abatement Society of Victoria in 1961.
Ferdinand Heathcote Wright
Ferdinand Heathcote Wright (1917–1966) received a Diploma in Commerce from the University of Melbourne before attending the Graduate School of Business Administration (1939–1941). During the Second World War, he worked in America for the British Armament Commission and the Australian War Supplies Procurement Board. He returned to live in Australia with his American wife and two children in 1946.
Edmund Angus Jones
John Ernest Gillis
Gilles Thomas Kryger
Harold Farlow Craig
John Dowell Davies
Ian Somerville Dudley Hayward
Sir Robert David Garrick Agnew (1930–1987)
by John McIlwraith
This article was published in Australian Dictionary of Biography, Volume 17, (MUP), 2007
Sir Robert David Garrick Agnew (1930-1987), sportsman and businessman, was born on 21 September 1930 at Nedlands, Perth, son of Western Australian-born parents Robert Gordon Carlisle Agnew, municipal engineer, and his wife Dorothy Jean, née Wilson. Garrick attended Perth Modern School and in 1949 entered the University of Western Australia to study engineering. A champion freestyle swimmer, he won the annual long-distance `swim through Perth’ race in the Swan River that year, and the 440-yards and the 880-yards finals at the Australian championships in 1950. He competed in the London Olympic Games (1948), and won the gold medal for the 440-yards freestyle at the 1950 British Empire Games in Auckland, New Zealand. In 1950 he secured a sporting scholarship in the United States of America at Ohio State University, Columbus (BS, 1952); majoring in psychology, he graduated summa cum laude. At the Helsinki Olympic Games (1952) he competed in the 1500-metres event. He undertook postgraduate studies at Harvard University’s Graduate School of Business Administration (MBA, 1954), this time on an academic scholarship, and returned to Perth.
A restless individual, with an original turn of mind, as a young man Agnew considered using tank-landing craft to ferry iron ore to bulk carriers offshore. Instead he acquired an old trampsteamer’andbeganexport∈gmineralsandliveca≤.HeformedGarrickAg≠wPtyLtdandwent∫obusinessasanorebroker.On4April1959atthePerthSocietyoftheNewChurch,A∂aideTerrace,hemarriedFayMa−bel≤Ferguson,astenographer.In1966heestablishedanevaporativesa<andgyp∑mineatSharkBay,≠arCarnarvon;theenterpriseranatalossforsomeyearsbuteventuallyflourished.Hewasknownasatrampsteamer’andbeganexport∈gmineralsandliveca≤.HeformedGarrickAg≠wPtyLtdandwent∫obusinessasanorebroker.On4April1959atthePerthSocietyoftheNewChurch,A∂aideTerrace,hemarriedFayMa-bel≤Ferguson,astenographer.In1966heestablishedanevaporativesa<andgyp∑mineatSharkBay,≠arCarnarvon;theenterpriseranatalossforsomeyearsbuteventuallyflourished.Hewasknownasagreat gambler’ who, with little capital of his own, was able to persuade affluent partners to back his ventures. Having a financial interest (through his company, Mt Enid Iron Co. Pty Ltd) in the original consortium holding the prospecting rights to the reserves covering the Robe River iron ore deposits, Agnew acquired a 5 per cent stake in Robe River Ltd when it became a public company in 1970 and began mining. He benefited from considerable royalties before selling his interest in 1977.
In 1970 the Agnew group of companies had merged with Clough Holdings Pty Ltd to form Agnew Clough Ltd, with Agnew as chairman. Four years later the company embarked on a project to mine and process vanadium, and in 1980 announced plans to build a silicon metal smelter at Wundowie, near Perth. That year Agnew helped to found the Australian Bank Ltd, the first new trading bank in the country for fifty years, and was appointed its founding chairman. Also chairman of several Australian Bank subsidiaries, including Australian Liquid Assets Management Ltd and Australis Securities Ltd, he was a director of Qantas Airways Ltd (1981-87) and the Australian Industry Development Corporation (1974-80). Determined, far-sighted and self-effacing, Agnew was adown−→−earthmanwithstraightforwardideas’andasty≤tˆwasamixtureofadown-→-earthmanwithstraightforwardideas’andasty≤tw^asamixtureofdoggedness and flair’. He amassed a fortune estimated by the Australian as $100 million. He was appointed CBE in 1978 and knighted in 1983.
A `big healthy man, with a brown face, big forehead and curly hair’, Sir Garrick swam regularly throughout his life to keep fit. He was an outstanding big game fisherman, taking his cruiser every year from Fremantle to North Queensland in pursuit of marlin. In 1983 at Rottnest Trench he set a Western Australian record when he caught a 319-kg Pacific Blue Marlin. He was a member of the Weld, Royal Freshwater Bay Yacht and Perth Game Fishing clubs. His wife died in 1981 and his younger daughter in 1983. On 29 November 1986 at St Columba’s Presbyterian Church, Mosman Park, he married Elizabeth Margaret, née Ahern, a divorcee and an interpreter. He died of coronary artery disease on 3 August 1987 at the University of Western Australia swimming pool complex, Crawley, after a training session, and was cremated with Anglican rites. His wife and the two sons and elder daughter of his first marriage survived him.
Select Bibliography
- Australian Financial Review, 6 May 1971, p 10, 5 Aug 1987, p 4
- People with Pix, 29 Sept 1977, p 5
- West Australian, 4 Aug 1987, p 16
- Australian, 13 Feb 1981, p 19, 5 Aug 1987, p 2
- private information.
John Birnie Marshall (1930–1957)
by Harry Gordon
This article was published in Australian Dictionary of Biography, Volume 15, (MUP), 2000
John Birnie Marshall (1930-1957), swimmer, was born on 29 March 1930 at Bondi, Sydney, elder son of Alexander St Andrew McLean Marshall, a window dresser and former surf champion from Western Australia, and his Tasmanian-born wife Jean, née Birnie. Shortly after his birth, the family moved to Perth. By the age of 3 John was swimming in the Swan River and riding a pony over jumps. In 1935 the Marshalls shifted to Melbourne. John attended (1943-49) Haileybury College, Brighton, where he became an enthusiastic all-round sportsman, representing the school at cricket, football, athletics and swimming. He was also a prefect, but he did not distinguish himself as a scholar.
A shy, rather gawky youth, with large ears, a wide smile and a drawl, Marshall decided in 1944 to approach Tom Donnett, a coach at Richmond Baths. Donnett's early reaction was that he 'had natural buoyancy, enthusiasm and not much else. I liked his spirit . . . but he would bash along . . . without much idea of co-ordination'. Undeterred, Donnett moulded Marshall's fluid, gliding movement through the water; his kick gave him tremendous propulsion, and his almost languid stroke distinguished him from other swimmers.
Within months Marshall was winning races at the Brighton Beach Baths. He took his first title, the Victorian one-mile championship, in December 1945; and in Adelaide fourteen months later, when he was still 16, he won every national title from 220 yards to 1650 yards. At the Olympic Games in London in 1948, he finished second in the 1500 metres and third in the 400 metres. The renowned coach Bob Kiphuth, from the United States of America, offered to train him if he could gain entry to Yale University, New Haven. Back in Australia, Marshall made history in the following summer by capturing every Australian freestyle championship, from 110 to 1650 yards.
After much study, Marshall qualified to enter Yale (B.A., 1953). Under the conditioning régime of Kiphuth, he became bigger and stronger, and at the U.S. national titles in April 1950 broke four world records. Later that year he set fifteen world records within four months—over distances from 200 yards to one mile. In December he won the Helms Athletic Foundation award as Australasia's outstanding amateur sportsman for 1950. By mid-1951 he had set 171 records, including 28 world and 38 American. Then suddenly, inexplicably, he lost form.
Marshall suffered defeats in America, and at the 1952 Olympics in Helsinki he failed even to qualify for the final of the 400 metres (in which he held the world record). He finished last in the 1500 metres final, two laps behind the winner. Returning to Australia in 1954, he went to work for the tyre firm founded by the former Olympic swimmer Sir Frank Beaurepaire. At St Leonard's Presbyterian Church, Brighton Beach, on 14 September 1955 he married Wendy Patricia Byrne, an 18-year-old diving champion and receptionist.
By his example, Marshall made a huge contribution to the swimming revolution which culminated in Australia's great success at the Olympic Games in Melbourne in 1956. His preparation techniques and callisthenics, based on Kiphuth's teachings, became a blueprint for the visionaries of Australian swimming. In a bid to gain Olympic representation for a third time, he switched to the new stroke of butterfly. Excluded from Australia's 1956 Olympic squad, he forced his way into the team by winning two Games trials and finished fifth in the Olympic 200-metre final. He later won the Victorian 200-metre freestyle and butterfly championships, both in record times, and was named captain of the State team for the national titles.
On 25 January 1957 Marshall was critically injured when one of the tyres on his motorcar blew out and the vehicle crashed near Clunes, Victoria. He died six days later in Royal Melbourne Hospital and was cremated. His wife and seven-month-old son survived him.
Select Bibliography
- G. Lomas, The Will to Win (Melb, 1960)
- H. Gordon, Young Men in a Hurry (Melb, 1961)
- P. Cerutty, Sport is My Life (Lond, 1966)
- H. Gordon, Australia and the Olympic Games (Brisb, 1994)
- Walkabout, Dec 1968
- Age (Melbourne), 31 Jan 1957
- Herald (Melbourne), 31 Jan 1957, 22 Jan 1958
- Daily Mirror (Sydney), 5 Nov 1976.
John Gardiner Wilson
Robert Henry Henderson
William Mitchell
Sir Oscar Gwynne Meyer (1910–1981)
by Stella M. Barber
This article was published in Australian Dictionary of Biography, Volume 18, (MUP), 2012
Sir Oscar Gwynne Meyer (1910-1981), engineer and businessman, was born on 10 February 1910 at North Sydney, eldest of three children of Italian-born Oscar Arthur Meyer and his wife Muriel Alice Gwynne, née O’Brien, born in New South Wales. Oscar was educated at North Sydney Boys’ High School. He followed his father, a clerk with New South Wales Railways, joining as a cadet engineer in 1926. Studying mechanical engineering at Sydney Technical College, he qualified in 1931 and the next year was appointed an engineer with the railways. On 19 December 1938 at St John’s Church of England, Milsons Point, he married Marion Bohlé, a secretary.
Having served in the Citizen Military Forces since 1931, Meyer was appointed as a captain, Royal Australian Engineers, Australian Imperial Force, on 1 May 1940. Promoted to major, he embarked for the Middle East in October with the 7th Division. He saw action in Syria and was mentioned in despatches before returning to Australia in April 1942. Promoted to lieutenant colonel in September, he joined the Northern Territory Force. He was seconded to Advanced Land Headquarters in November 1944 and in 1945 served in New Guinea, Borneo and Morotai, and was again mentioned in despatches. In March 1946 he was placed on the Reserve of Officers with the rank of honorary colonel and the following year was appointed OBE. He continued his association with the CMF, serving as colonel commandant RAE, 3rd Military District, until 1976.
In 1946 Meyer became assistant-director of civil engineering, later of mechanical engineering, in the rail standardisation branch, Commonwealth Department of Shipping and Transport. Appointed Victorian railways commissioner in 1950, he was also deputy-chairman in 1956-58. He oversaw planning for an underground railway in Melbourne. From September to December 1956, sponsored by the State government, he attended an advanced management course at Harvard Business School, United States of America; he returned at the end of January 1957 after inspecting modern railway methods in the USA. He resigned from the railways early in 1958, prompting questions in the Victorian parliament; the assistant-minister for transport, (Sir) Murray Porter, notified the House of Assembly that Meyer had given 'a verbal agreement to remain with the railways for a reasonable time'.
On 1 April 1958 Meyer became managing director of Australian Carbon Black Pty Ltd. Plans to locate its plant at Altona, Victoria, were initially rejected by the local shire council, which was worried about pollution, but were finally approved after intervention by the Victorian government, fearful of rival bids from other States. Meyer successfully steered the firm through these negotiations. Stepping down as managing director in 1973, he served to 1975 as chairman.
In 1965 Meyer was appointed chairman of the Lower Yarra Crossing (later the West Gate Bridge) Authority. He was a strong advocate for the bridge which, when completed in 1978, was the largest of its type in the southern hemisphere, spanning the Yarra River and providing ready access between Melbourne and Geelong. Construction was not without its problems, the worst of which saw the deaths of thirty-five workmen when part of the structure collapsed on 15 October 1970. The building design was then modified; asked about the safety of the bridge, Meyer replied with his characteristic humour 'it will stand up to a herd of copulating elephants'.
Meyer served on a number of boards of directors, including Yellow Express Carriers Ltd (1961-71), Colonial Mutual Life Assurance Society Ltd (1966-80), Australian Innovation Corporation Ltd (1976-79) and Nylex Corporation Ltd (1967-80). He was also a member of the Commonwealth Serum Laboratories Commission (1962-67) and the Export Development Council (1965-71). Later he was chairman of (E.A.) Watts Holdings Ltd (1974-81) and Mildara Wines Ltd (1979-81). President of the Melbourne division (1965-66) and national president (1970-72) of the Australian Institute of Management, in 1970 he became a fellow; in 1976 he was awarded the John Storey [q.v.12] medal. He was knighted in 1978.
For many years Meyer lived at Toorak and spent leisure time at Barwon Heads, where he enjoyed sailing. He was a member of the Royal Sydney Yacht Squadron, the Naval & Military and Australian clubs (Melbourne), and the Royal Melbourne and Barwon Heads golf clubs. A colourful character, who smoked a pipe, he was known for 'calling a spade a spade'. Survived by his wife and their son and daughter, he died on 30 September 1981 at Prahran, Melbourne, and was cremated.
Select Bibliography
- Herald (Melbourne), 3 November 1955, p 5
- 13 March 1958, p 2
- 10 April 1958, p 9
- Age (Melbourne), 20 March 1958, p 7
- 13 November 1978, p 17
- 2 October 1981, p 19
- B883, item NX384 (National Archives of Australia)
David Frederick Hawkins
David Frederick Hawkins (1933–) grew up at Fairlight on the northern side of Sydney Harbor and attended North Sydney Boys High School. He finished first in the breaststroke at the 1950 Empire Games in Auckland swimming the “butterfly” style and then represented Australia at the 1952 Olympic Games in Helsinki. (Hawkins won two gold medals for Australia in relay events at the 1954 Empire Games in Vancouver where he swam orthodox breaststroke because of the banning of the butterfly. The butterfly became its own event at the 1956 Olympics in Melbourne.)
After the Helsinki Games, he came to the United States to obtain a university education because he would have needed to take a Teacher’s Scholarship to attend the University of Sydney (this would have bonded him after graduation to teach wherever he was sent by the N.S.W. Education Department). He received an admission offer from the University of Michigan. Yale offered to ‘redshirt’ him for a year because of the current strength of their swimming team. In August 1952, he was offered admission to Harvard University with the understanding that he would pay for his board ($300) and tuition ($600) by working at Harvard. At the end of his freshman year he was awarded the Frank Scott Gerrish Scholarship and with this award he was able to pay for his board and tuition for the final three years of his Harvard degree. David Hawkins initially concentrated in economics but switched to government. He was unable to do a senior thesis in government because he had not taken the required introductory courses and graduated with the class of 1956, Cum Laude in General Studies.
After commencement, Hawkins enrolled at the Harvard Business School obtaining his M.B.A. in 1958. He then joined Australian Carbon Black Pty Ltd, Melbourne as executive assistant to the managing director but received his first assignment to Boston. He coached the Harvard freshman swimming team of 1958–1959 before returning to Australia. In January 1960 he was enrolled in the doctoral program at Harvard Business School, graduating D.B.A. in 1960. He then joined the Business School faculty teaching financial accounting. He received tenure in 1972. He is currently the Lovett-Learned Professor of Business Administration.
(See Individual Bio Statements at Left)