Packer family “black sheep” dies from suspected medical episode at 64
Francis Packer, artist, budding writer and once heir to Australia’s largest fortune, was found dead at his home in Sydney on Sunday.
On Wednesday, NSW Police confirmed the 64-year-old self-described “black sheep” of the Packer family had died of a suspicious “medical incident”. His body was found in the two-bedroom Cammeray flat owned by his elderly mother Angela Raymond.
Struggling with years of depression and addiction, ostracized by the late media baron Clyde Packer for his sexuality, Francis Packer’s life got off to a tumultuous start. He returned to Sydney in 2014 after living in America for 35 years and is still grieving the loss of his partner at the World Trade Center in 2001.
She found solace upon returning to Australia, enjoying being closer to her mother and reconnecting with childhood friends as she began life as an artist. He divided his time between his beloved garden in Thirroul on the South Coast and the flat in Sydney where he died.
He has made no secret that he likes to keep a lower profile than his more scrutinized cousins. reporter In a 2014 interview, he said: “There’s a lot of pressure in this country to have the Packer surname. I was aware of that from a very young age. I was told that people would watch me, that I had to be wary of people’s intentions… I think that’s why the family was always hesitant about dealing with journalists and the media, we’ve been burned before.”
He was the only child of Clyde Packer and the eldest of Sir Frank Packer’s three grandchildren.
“For a long time, I was the heir apparent, and that became very clear to me… I was the little Packer prince,” he said in 2014.
However, his grandfather’s ambitions for the little boy were not: his succession to the Packer throne was thwarted by a falling out between Clyde and Sir Frank, which came to a head in 1972 when Clyde famously left the family media business. The outburst came after Sir Frank rejected Clyde and blocked a television interview with then Labor leader Bob Hawke, leading to Clyde’s move to the US, where he died in exile in California in 2001.
The family toast was then presented to Kerry and James. This left Francis an unknown figure to the Australian public.
Childhood friend and gallery owner Tim Olsen described Francis as a “tender soul” who he believed was “often misunderstood” within the wider Packer family.
“He was the kindest, gentlest man who ever struggled in life, but he was incredibly intelligent. While we joked that he was ‘the poorest Packer,’ he was too humble to admit it, but he was definitely the most knowledgeable of them all. He loved history, he loved art, and he was incredibly well-read.”
Packer has reconnected with his cousin Gretel in recent years, describing their relationship as “friendly”. However, he was not close to billionaire James Packer.
He talked about a long-term project to write a book about his high-profile family in 2023.
When asked about the reaction of her cousins James and Gretel and her aunt Ros Packer when they learned she was writing a book, she said: “I think they’d rather I didn’t do it.”
“But it has all the elements InheritanceAdd to that what it’s really like to be a real family and try to exist within such a media dynasty, especially when you don’t quite fit the family mold like I do.”
It was Francis Packers’ great-grandfather, convict Robert Clyde Packer, who initiated the family’s relationship with the media after finding 10 shillings at the Tasmanian racetrack and backing a winning horse at odds of 12-1.
He only had to move to the mainland to begin his newspaper career, before his son Frank Packer inherited newspaper interests, which had expanded further under the reign of his uncle Kerry Packer.
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Andrew Hornery is a veteran journalist and former Special Sydney columnist for The Sydney Morning Herald.Connect with: X or email.
