{{Short description|Australian businessman}} {{Use British English|date=August 2014}} {{Use dmy dates|date=April 2026}} {{Infobox person |name = Sidney Myer |image = Sidmyer.jpg |birth_name = Simcha Myer Baevski |birth_date = {{Birth date|df=yes|1878|2|8}} |birth_place = Krychaw, Mogilev Governorate, Russian Empire (present-day Belarus) |death_date = {{Death date and age|df=yes|1934|9|5|1878|2|8}} |death_place = Melbourne, Victoria, Australia |occupation = Retail businessman, philanthropist |known_for = Founder of Myer Department Stores |spouse = {{plainlist| * {{marriage|Hannah Nance Flegeltaub|1905|1919|end=div}} * {{marriage|Merlyn Baillieu|1920}} }} |children = {{flatlist | *Ken *Neilma *Baillieu *Marigold }} }}
'''Sidney Myer''' (born '''Simcha Myer Baevski''' ({{langx|ru|Симха Майер Баевский}}, {{langx|be|Сімха Маер Баеўскі}}); 8 February 1878{{spaced ndash}}5 September 1934) was a Belarusian-born Australian businessman and philanthropist, best known for founding Myer, Australia's largest chain of department stores.
==Early life== Myer was born in Krychaw (Krichev), Mogilev Governorate, Russian Empire (within the Pale of Settlement,<ref name=adb>{{Australian Dictionary of Biography |last= Hyslop |first= Anthea |year= 1986 |volume= 10 |id2=myer-simcha-sidney-7721 |title= Myer, Simcha (Sidney) (1878–1934) |accessdate= 19 December 2015 }}</ref> present-day Belarus), the youngest of eleven children born to Ezekiel Baevski, a Hebrew scholar, and his wife, Koona Dubrusha (née Shur). He was educated at the Jewish Elementary School in Krichev, and later managed his mother's drapery business. He emigrated to Melbourne in August 1899 with very little money and little knowledge of English to join his elder brother, Elcon Myer (1875–1938), who had left Russia two years earlier.<ref name=adb/>
==Personal life== On 8 March 1905, Myer married Hannah Nance Flegeltaub (1868–1963), a cousin of Travers Vale. They had no children, but in 1911 he acted as guardian of his nephew, Norman Myer.<ref>{{cite Australian Dictionary of Biography |title= Myer, Sir Norman (1897–1956) |id=A150529b }} First published in ''Australian Dictionary of Biography'', Volume 15, (MUP), 2000.</ref> In mid-1919, Sidney Myer went to the United States to study retailing. While there he divorced Hannah in Reno, Nevada, although the divorce was not recognised under Australian law. {{citation needed|date=April 2014}}
While in Nevada, Myer also converted to Christianity. As Darrel Paproth notes, however, this was also "the culmination of Lee Neil's witness to him over the years of their friendship and working together."<ref>{{cite book |last1=Paproth |first1=Darrell |title=Failure is Not Final: A Life of C. H. Nash |date=1997 |publisher=Centre for the Study of Australian Christianity |page=225}}</ref>
On 8 January 1920, Myer married (Margery) Merlyn Baillieu (later Dame Merlyn Myer), on her 20th birthday. They had two daughters and two sons: Ken Myer {{post-nominals|country=AUS|AC}} (1 March 1921 – 30 July 1992), Neilma (7 November 1922 – 15 June 2015, later Neilma Gantner), Sidney Baillieu Myer {{post-nominals|country=AUS|AC}} (11 January 1926 – 23 January 2022), and Marigold Merlyn Baillieu Myer (Lady Southey {{post-nominals|country=AUS|AC}}) (born 2 May 1928). Merlyn traveled to San Francisco, California for the birth of each of their four children to ensure they would be considered legitimate.<ref name=media>[http://www.mup.com.au/uploads/files/reviews/TheManyLivesOfKennethMyer.pdf Media Monitors: Ken Myer's lasting legacy of power and philanthropy] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090709082850/http://www.mup.com.au/uploads/files/reviews/TheManyLivesOfKennethMyer.pdf |date=9 July 2009 }}, mup.com.au; accessed 7 June 2015.</ref>
The Myers returned to Australia in 1929. Ken Myer was a philanthropist, a prime mover behind the Victorian Arts Centre; chairman of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation; and was offered and declined the governor-generalship of Australia. Ken Myer and his brother Baillieu set up the Myer Foundation in 1959. Sidney Baillieu Myer married Sarah June Hordern (born 1935) of the Sydney Hordern retailing family on 15 December 1955, thus linking two of Australia's wealthiest families.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article79257841|title=Wedding Will Unite Well-Known Aust. Families.|newspaper=The Central Queensland Herald|location=Rockhampton, Qld.|date=15 December 1955|accessdate=7 May 2013|page=29|via=National Library of Australia}}</ref> Sidney Baillieu Myer and Sarah Hordern had three children: Sid Myer, Rupert Myer and Samantha Hordern Baillieu AM, nee Myer, formerly Bartlett.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://issuu.com/peninsulaessence/docs/pe_december_2016 | title=December 2016 by Peninsula Essence - Issuu | date=18 November 2016 }}</ref>
One of Myer's granddaughters, Joanna Baevski (the only daughter of Kenneth and Prue (née Boyd) Myer) is a Director of The Myer Foundation. She is Vice-President of the Governance Committee, and a member of the Social Justice Committee, the Water Committee and the Environment Grant Making Committee. She represents The Myer Foundation as a council member of the organisation Our Community, and is a board member of Australians for Just Refugee Programs. A member of Philanthropy Australia, Joanna Baevski is also a supporter of the Victorian Women's Trust.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.womenaustralia.info/biogs/AWE0428b.htm |title=Joanna Baevski profile |work=womenaustralia.info |date= |accessdate=7 June 2015 }}</ref>
==Death== Myer collapsed and died on Woorigoleen Road, Toorak, a few hundred metres from his home at 'Cranlana', 62 Clendon Road, Toorak on 5 September 1934. The cause of death was given as congestive heart failure.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://oa.anu.edu.au/obituary/myer-simcha-sidney-7721 | title=Obituary - Simcha (Sidney) Myer - Obituaries Australia }}</ref> Myer's gravesite, a sepulchre for the reception of urns of ashes, is in Box Hill Public Cemetery in Melbourne. Also interred in the tomb are Dame Merlyn Myer, and Ken Myer and his wife, Yasuko, who perished together in a light aircraft crash in Alaska in 1992. The grave is listed on the ''Victorian Heritage Register''.<ref>{{cite VHD|12803|Box Hill Cemetery Columbarium and Myer memorial|hr=2045|ho=58}}{{coord|37|49|18.06|S|145|7|58.35|E|region:AU}}</ref>
<gallery> File:Sidney_Myer_grave_1.jpg| Front approach to the Myer gravesite. File:Sidney_Myer_grave_2.jpg| Side view of the Myer gravesite. File:Sidney_Myer_grave_3.jpg| Inscription on the Myer gravesite. </gallery>
==Philanthropy== [[File:Sidney Myer statue at Sidney Myer Music Bowl.jpg|thumb|Sidney Myer's statue at Sidney Myer Music Bowl]]
A violinist who enjoyed music, Sidney Myer established free, open-air concerts with the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra in 1929, which were always well attended by Melburnians.
During the depression of the 1930s, Myer felt a responsibility to contribute something to the community that had assisted him in achieving business success and a personal fortune. Rather than terminate employment of workers in his Department Store, all staff, including himself, had their wages cut. Relief work was personally financed by a £22,000 sum, to provide employment opportunities. For the unemployed at Christmas, he financed a Christmas dinner for 10,000 people at the Royal Exhibition Building, including a gift for every child.<ref>{{cite Australian Dictionary of Biography |last1=Hyslop |first1=Anthea |title=Myer, Simcha (Sidney) (1878–1934) |id2=myer-simcha-sidney-7721 |accessdate=11 April 2020}}</ref>
==Legacy== Myer's will was proved at £922,000. His funeral was attended by some 100,000 people. One-tenth of his estate went to establish the Sidney Myer Charitable Trust, now known as the Sidney Myer Fund, to continue the tradition of philanthropy begun by its founder. The most famous philanthropic funding was for the construction of the Sidney Myer Music Bowl in the Kings Domain, Melbourne in 1958, which is named in his honour.<ref>{{usurped|1=[https://web.archive.org/web/20120531132815/http://www.janesoceania.com/australia_dynasties_myers3/index1.htm THE PATRIARCH'S WILL – THE MYER FAMILY – PART 3]}}, janesoceania.com; accessed 14 April 2014</ref><ref> [http://www.mfo.com.au Myer Family official website] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080819195703/http://www.mfo.com.au/ |date=19 August 2008 }}; accessed 14 April 2014.</ref> He is also the namesake for the Sidney Myer Asia Centre building at the University of Melbourne.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Harris |first=Andrew |date=2019-04-12 |title=158 |url=https://maps.unimelb.edu.au/parkville/building/158 |access-date=2022-03-20 |website=Maps |language=en}}</ref>
==References== {{Reflist}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Myer, Sidney}} Category:1878 births Category:1934 deaths Category:People from Krychaw Category:Belarusian Jews Category:Australian people of Belarusian-Jewish descent Category:Australian retail company founders Category:Australian Jews Category:Australian Anglicans Category:Converts to Anglicanism from Judaism Category:Australian philanthropists Category:Businesspeople from Melbourne Category:Philanthropists from Melbourne Category:Emigrants from the Russian Empire to Australia Category:Burials at Box Hill Cemetery Category:20th-century Australian businesspeople Sidney