Neil Balnaves, a television executive and philanthropist from Australia, died recently at 77. Balnaves was killed in an accident aboard the luxury residential yacht The World off the coast of Tahiti, according to ABC News. He was on vacation with his wife, Diane, at the time of the event. The event happened on February 21, according to the Australian Financial Review. The philanthropist’s death comes two decades after he was engaged in another boating catastrophe, which transformed his life. Balnaves disclosed to Michael Cathcart of ABC Australia in 2013 that he was in a “very terrible accident” in his late 50s that took him a year to recover. Balances injuries reportedly prompted him to sell his TV production company and use the money to fund charities as a consequence of being unable to travel following the first accident.
“What did I intend to do with it? There was that strange time when you thought a larger boat, a jet, or a bigger home would be good. [But] it was demonstrably wrong, and it was this that gave rise to the [Balnaves] Foundation. I actually came to the decision… that it was important to give back to the nation that had been so wonderful to me.”
The Art Gallery of South Australia is deeply saddened by the passing of Neil Balnaves AO. Neil has championed artists, creative engagement and access to arts for all, and his extraordinary generosity has changed the lives of so many. pic.twitter.com/zynwUwhGPN
— Art Gallery of South Australia (@agsa_adelaide) February 22, 2022
In 2010, Neil Balnaves was appointed an Officer of the Order of Australia.
On May 5, 1944, I was born. Neil Balnaves was born in Adelaide, Australia. Because of his success in the entertainment sector, he decided to invest in the Balnaves Foundation. Balnaves founded Endemol Shine Australia, which produced Big Brother, Bananas in Pyjamas, and Water Rats. Neil Balnaves was Hanna Barbera Pty’s MD in 1974 and Hamlyn Group’s MD a few years later. He also oversaw the management buyout of Taft-Hardie and the reorganization of Southern Star Group.
After Southern Star, he moved on to work for Ardent Leisure Group, which operates amusement parks such as Dreamworld on the Gold Coast, for 13 years beginning in 2003, and developed his foundation. He established it in 2006 to assist Australia’s arts, education, and research into medical and social injustice. Balnaves was appointed an Officer of the Order of Australia (AO) in 2010 for his contributions to charity and business. A boating tragedy launched Neil Balnaves’ career as a private philanthropist in 2002.
Throughout his charity’s 15-year existence, he and his family have given over $40 million in donations. His wife, Diane Balnaves, whom he married in 1971, and their two children, Hamish and Victoria, survived him. The couple’s oldest daughter, Alexandra, died in 2019 after a protracted illness.
