Ian Potter

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Sir Ian Potter
Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
Died24 October 1994(1994-10-24) (aged 92)
Melbourne, Australia
EducationUniversity of Sydney
Occupations
Title
  • Founder, W.I. Potter (1935), Ian Potter & Co. (1937)
  • Founding Board Member,
    Howard Florey Institute
  • Founder, Ian Potter Foundation (1964)
Spouse
(m. 1974)
Children2 daughters (Robin Potter and Carolyn Parker Bowles)
Military career
AllegianceAustralia
Service/branch
Sub Lieutenant)
UnitHMAS Lonsdale, Port Melbourne
Commands heldHMAS Nordecia
Battles/warsSecond World War

Sir William Ian Potter (25 August 1902 – 24 October 1994), known as Ian Potter, was an Australian stockbroker, businessman and philanthropist. Potter was knighted in 1962. The Ian Potter Foundation, which he established in 1964, has made grants to research institutes, charities, universities and arts organisations. Since 1993, the Ian Potter Cultural Trust has awarded grants to individuals in the arts.

Early life and education

Potter was the third child of James W. Potter and Maria Louisa Townsend McWhinnie, who was born in Glasgow in June 1869. Potter's parents married in Sydney, New South Wales, in June 1899, then returned to England in 1903 with their three children. Returning to Sydney, he attended Mortdale Public School before winning a scholarship to Cleveland Street Intermediate High School in Redfern.

Potter served as a lieutenant with the Australian Army's Citizens Military Forces (CMF) between 1920 and 1922.

He studied economics at the University of Sydney, where he excelled and graduated at the top of his year.

Career

Upon graduation, Potter moved to Melbourne to take on a position as economist with stockbroker Edward Dyason, a successful mining entrepreneur and trained economist. In 1933, Potter began an eighteen-month period as a Treasury economist in Canberra providing him with an intimate knowledge of government finance. He also made many contacts in politics and the federal bureaucracy.[citation needed]

Upon his return to Melbourne in 1935, Potter established his own stockbroking firm, W.I. Potter, and then from 1937, Ian Potter & Co.[citation needed]

World War II

Potter continued his business interests during the war while training for, and serving in, the

King George VI approved warrants for the award by the Royal Navy of the Blue Ensign (Defaced) to the Little Ship Club, and to Potter's HMAS Nordecia as well as the San Vittoria and Mauranne, for service during the war. This is the only award of the Blue Ensign (Defaced) to an Australian boat club for wartime service. The Blue Ensign (Defaced) included a light blue coloured circle representing the dawn, within which a five-pointed star represents the guiding star of their overnight patrols around Port Philip Bay.[citation needed
]

Other roles

Potter was the

Honours and awards

Knight Bachelor Ribbon Australia Service Medal 1939-1945 BAR

Ian Potter Foundation and Cultural Trust

The Ian Potter Foundation was established by Potter in 1964, inspired by the

Howard Florey Institute at the University of Melbourne. Potter's vision was to support youth, and as of 2022 the foundation awards over A$20 million in grants annually, across a range of sectors. It adopted the seahorse as its logo.[3]

The Ian Potter Cultural Trust came about after the Australian Elizabethan Theatre Trust was placed in liquidation in 1991. The foundation had previously been able to support individual artists by supporting this organisation, but its tax status prevented it from giving grants directly to individuals. In October 1992 the Ian Potter Cultural Trust was established, specifically to give grants to individual artists. The first grants were approved in June 1993.[4]

Personal life

Potter married four times. On 5 April 1928 he wed Victoria Bernice Moorhead in Mosman Presbyterian Church. He divorced his first wife in 1941 and on 2 July 1942 he married Gwenyth Winifred Izzard, an amateur actress, at the Cairns Memorial Presbyterian Church in East Melbourne. He divorced his second wife on the grounds of desertion. On 5 February 1955 he wed Patricia Ann Garvan (née Fitzgerald). This marriage also ended in divorce. On 27 March 1975 he married Primrose Catherine Dunlop (née Anderson Stuart) in the Chapel of St George the Martyr HMAS Watson at South Head, Vaucluse, New South Wales.[5]

On his death his fourth wife and a daughter from each of his first and second marriages survived him.[5]

Legacy

Exterior of the Ian Potter Museum of Art

Institutions named after Potter include:

References

  1. ^ The great financier and his great secret Retrieved 11 July 2022.
  2. ^ William Ian Potter 1902-1994 Retrieved 11 June 2022.
  3. ^ "Our History". The Ian Potter Foundation. Retrieved 2 November 2022.
  4. ^ "History". Ian Potter Cultural Trust. Retrieved 2 November 2022.
  5. ^ a b Sir Ian Potter 1902–1994 Australian Dictionary of Biography Retrieved 10 July 2022.
  6. ^ Light & Darkness Retrieved 11 July 2022.
  7. ^ "Ian Potter Centre for Performing Arts, Monash University". VPDA. 2019. Retrieved 5 November 2022.

Further reading

External links