Helena Carr
Helena Carr | |
|---|---|
.jpg) Carr in 1997 | |
| Born | Anne Helena John September 1946 Taiping, Perak, Malaysia |
| Died | 25 October 2023 (aged 77) Vienna, Austria |
| Citizenship | Australian |
| Education | Bachelor of Economics |
| Alma mater | University of Sydney |
| Occupation | Businesswoman |
| Spouse | Bob Carr |
Helena Carr (born Anne Helena John was a Malaysian-born Australian businesswoman and the wife of former Premier of New South Wales, and former Senator and former Foreign Minister, Bob Carr.
Early life
She was born Anne Helena John in Perak, Malaysia,[1] the youngest of six children of an Indian father and a Chinese mother.[2] In 1965, she came to Sydney to study at Our Lady of Mercy College, Parramatta.[3] As economics was one of her strongest subjects, she majored in economics at the University of Sydney where she was a resident at Sancta Sophia College.[4]
Carr joined Leigh Mardon, a subsidiary of Coca-Cola Amatil, in 1976, first as market research officer and then as product manager. She left in 1981 to join Amatil before returning to Leigh Mardon as business development manager and then division manager,[5] where she was responsible for a staff of 1,000.[3]
Marriage and politics
In 1972, she met Bob Carr on a vacation in Tahiti and the two were married on 24 February 1973.[6]
Bob Carr became Federal President of Young Labor shortly after. Helena Carr started a successful business career and by the 1980s, she was the managing director of Leigh Mardon.[7] In 1992, Carr and Max Turner partnered with Eddie Obeid to offer A$16 million for Offset Alpine. She later pulled out of the deal, leading Obeid to partner instead with Rene Rivkin and Graham Richardson for a successful A$15 million offer.[8]
She and Max Turner later bought Merritt Madden Printing and Advanced Graphics, a commercial printer producing prospectuses, annual reports, and trade magazines. In October 2004, she and Turner sold the business to the New Zealand company Blue Star Print Group.[7]
In October 2023, Helena Carr died from a brain aneurysm while in Vienna, Austria, at the age of 77.[9]
References
- ^ Neville Dcruz, Bernama (2 March 2012). "New Aussie foreign minister's wife is from Perak". Malaysiakini.com. Retrieved 2 March 2012.
- ^ "Carr defends overseas trips with wife". ABC News. 25 October 2012.
- ^ a b "Major supporting act". The Sydney Morning Herald. 30 July 2005. Retrieved 10 March 2012.
- ^ Lawson, Valerie (28 July 2005). "Exit follows cue from retiring leading lady". smh.com.au. Retrieved 21 March 2012.
- ^ "People". The Age. 17 September 1984. Retrieved 21 March 2012.
- ^ "Major supporting act". The Sydney Morning Herald. 30 July 2005.
- ^ a b Mitchell, Alex (24 October 2004). "Wife's deal sparks speculation over Carr's future". Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 10 March 2012.
- ^ McClymont, Kate (29 July 2014). "Eddie Obeid's 'likely' $1m share of Offset Alpine payout". Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 28 October 2023.
- ^ "Former NSW premier and foreign minister Bob Carr's wife Helena dies overseas". ABC News. 28 October 2023.
Further reading
- Helena Dodkin Bob Carr: the Reluctant Leader, University of New South Wales Press 2003 ISBN 0-86840-757-7
- Andrew West and Rachel Morris, Bob Carr: a Self-Made Man HarperCollins Pymble NSW 2003 ISBN 0-7322-7750-7
- Crown Content Who's Who in Australia 2005, North Melbourne page 379