An Australian Jewish philanthropist who was a generous supporter of numerous organizations, donating $15 million to Tel Aviv University, has passed away at 92, reported the Australian Jewish News.
Millie Phillips, a Holocaust survivor who was once considered the richest woman in Australia, was a donor to many Australian community organizations, synagogues, charities, and colleges.
Through the Jewish Communal Appeal (JCA), Phillips set up a $4 million fund in 2011 to pay for 500 Jewish day school students, along with funding trips to Israeli and Zionist youth camps.
In 2015, she gave $15 million to Tel Aviv University.
“Millie understood the importance of community and helping others and was dedicated to furthering education and fighting antisemitism,” JCA president Ian Sandler told the Australian Jewish News. “Her legacy will continue for years to come.”
Phillips was born in Poland and came to Australia in 1938 when she was a girl.
She was a self-made millionaire whose net worth was reported to be $110 million in 2019.
Phillips began her entrepreneurial career as a newly single mother of three young children when she set up a boarding house in Sydney, Australia in the early 1960s with a small loan.
In 1968, she invested in a tin mine, and during the ensuing nickel boom amassed a staggering fortune. She went on to become the head of International Mining Corporation.
Phillips wrote her autobiography Clouds of Glory in 2016.