Property big guns - Paramor, Moss, Besen, White and Walker - get Australia Day recognition

Property big guns - Paramor, Moss, Besen, White and Walker - get Australia Day recognition
Jonathan ChancellorDecember 7, 2020

Greg Paramor, managing director of Folkestone and chairman of LJ Hooker, received an Australia Day 2015 award. He was among several senior property industry recipients.

Paramor's recognition follows involvement with charities including the National Breast Cancer Foundation and the Garvan Institute of Medical Research.

After being made an Officer of the Order of Australia for distinguished service to the community across these roles and including his sport, real estate and property investment industry involvement, Paramor said it is wonderful work that the research scientists carry out.

"They don't measure their success in dollars but in the outcome for humanity," he told Fairfax Media.

He is the Capri's ambassador, a charity that assists homeless youth.

Brian White got his recognition, some 113 years after the Ray White estate agency was established.

The Ray White Group is still a family business, ­across nine countries, turning over more than $27 billion each year.

His sons Sam, Dan and Ben are members of the management team.

White has been appointed an Officer of the Order of Australia for distinguished service to business through leadership in the real estate, professional services and property industries. He has also been honoured in the arts as a ­patron having supported the Queensland Art Gallery, the Sydney Symphony Orchestra and sat on the board of the Queensland Philharmonic Orchestra. 

“Often people say start a family business and then you sell it," he told Fairfax.

"The joy I’ve got most is seeing my sons embrace the values that were part of the establishment of the business all those years ago.”

Bill Moss, who retired from Macquarie Bank's head of property and development, in 2007 redirected his efforts into disability advocacy, founding the FSHD Global Research Foundation in 2007.

Moss has been made an Officer of the Order of Australia for his distinguished service to the community, especially in the area of disability advocacy.

He wrote an autobiography and continues to prospect great property opportunities.

The philanthropic Lang Walker, the benefactor of the Lang and Sue Walker Centre for Hearing Research among many other worthy causes, was awarded an Order of Australia this year.

He established Walker Corporation in 1972, with projects along the way including the Wharf at Woolloomooloo.

Marcus Besen, the executive chairman of the Highpoint Property Group, since 2004, received his AC award for service to the visual and performing arts as a leading benefactor and supporter, through philanthropic contributions to a range of social welfare, community health, educational and youth initiatives, and to business.

Highpoint Property Group supports a range of Indigenous and youth welfare projects.

The Melbourne based Besen AO was one of only five people named a Companion in the General Division of the Order of Australia.

Jonathan Chancellor

Jonathan Chancellor is one of Australia's most respected property journalists, having been at the top of the game since the early 1980s. Jonathan co-founded the property industry website Property Observer and has written for national and international publications.

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