Media Mogul Kerry Packer Dead

AussieNick

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Prime Minister John Howard and Opposition Leader Kim Beazley have paid tribute to Kerry Packer, praising his capacity to relate to ordinary Australians.

The 68-year-old billionaire died yesterday at his Sydney home with his family at his bedside.

Mr Packer was Australia's richest man and a major player in the media industry.

But Mr Howard says Mr Packer never lost touch with the average Australian.

"A person who had a great capacity, despite his wealth and his business power, had a great capacity to talk the language of the common man," he said.

Mr Beazley says Mr Packer's ability to communicate was shown by his media interests.

"He had a deep love and affection for what he regarded as the average Australian, the ordinary Australian," he said.

Mr Howard says it might be symbolic that Mr Packer died during the Boxing Day Test because the businessman was well known for his love of horse racing, polo and cricket.

"His devotion to and passion for sport was quite remarkable," he said.

Mr Howard says Mr Packer's World Series Cricket changed the game and added millions of new fans.

Mr Beazley says Mr Packer will be best remembered for making cricket more fast moving.

"He transformed cricket, he returned it to the spectators in many ways," he said.

World Series Cricket started in 1977 and introduced coloured uniforms and heavily promoted one-day games.

The chairman of the board of John Fairfax Holdings Limited, Ronald Walker, says Mr Packer was a giant of the media industry and society.

In a statement, Mr Walker says Mr Packer transformed sporting codes and traditions from cricket to football.

The chief executive officer of Fairfax, David Kirk, says he has the highest respect for Mr Packer's achievements.

Mr Packer's media empire includes a television network and a stable of magazines

http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200512/s1538490.htm

s1538490.htm

PM Howard (left) Packer (Right)
 
That guy had a bit of a rough childhood. His old man treated him like Crap.
Well he is at peace now.
 
chanel 9 had a special kiss ass edition of nightline *urk*

the way he changed cricket will ensure his place in history, and my heart!!
 
For all his faults, I did enjoy Mr Packer's answer to members of the Senate Committee (replayed on Australian TV several times at the news of his death), when one of them questioned him over his minimising his tax (legally of course), and he said yes he did but that the way the government spent people's tax didn't encourage him to donate any more money to it than he had to. :|
 
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