Perth Wildcats owner Dr Jack Bendat AM CitWA came to Western Australia on a chance from California in 1966 and has became one of the State's great entrepreneurial success stories but his focus now remains on giving back to the community that has been so good to him.
Dr Bendat has been hugely influential in building shopping centres, creating hugely successful radio and television organisations and now owning the Perth Wildcats, but even more meaningful to him has been his work in giving back to the community and that's what he continues to focus on.
Click here to listen to the full interview on 720 ABC Perth's morning program with Geoff Hutchison
Dr Bendat was born in Illinois and then grew up in California, and still looks back fondly on his childhood and the way it set him up for his life that was to come.
"It was magnificent. I think I was lucky, knew the bottom line and where I wanted to go and what I wanted to do. I wanted to be in business, I never wanted to work for anybody and growing up in California in those days it was a close-knit family," Dr Bendat said.
"We have over 200 relatives there and went outside and played and talked to people, we read, we watched black-and-white television and the world has changed dramatically. I grew up in a loving family and have since found a beautiful wife, and we've had good kids."
As for what brought him, his wife Eleanor and their two children to Perth, it was nothing more than a desire to start a new life and get away from an America in the midst of the Vietnam War turmoil, and they loved WA so much that they are still here 46 years later.
"It was 1966 and the Vietnam War was going on when I was in California, and I was very successful in Los Angeles. I had two children, a boy and a girl, and I didn’t want them to grow up in that environment. I had never been to Australia but I had been in the army and fought in New Guinea and I was very jealous because the officers, I was a private, got their leave to go to Australia," he said.
"I said that one day I was going to go there. With the problems in America at that time, I took my two kids out of school and with my wife we got on a freighter. It was the 4th of July 1966 and there were only four of us on the boat. We went to Tokyo and didn’t know a soul. We climbed to the top of Mt Fuji and then went to Bangkok, Hong Kong and flew to Singapore and then to Perth.
"We landed at 5 o'clock in the morning because the plane was late and I can remember very well the immigration inspector asking us what we are doing here. We just said that we were looking around and were hoping to stay. He took off and came back and had organised a cab for us that was paid for, and there was a little place that we could stay for the night on Hay Street. It was $5 a night and being here opened up my eyes.
"We couldn’t believe the beaches, we couldn’t believe the sandy areas, we couldn’t believe the attitude of people and we were very lucky. We didn’t know anybody and it was an opportunity for a new life, and we liked it so much that we put the two kids into school. Paul since has become a lawyer and ran some of the radio and television stations before he became a school teacher, and we now have three grandchildren on one side and three on the other. They are all doing fine."
As for what started all of Dr Bendat's success in WA, it was the Bunbury Plaza soon after he arrived from the United States and that began what was to become one of Australia's great partnerships with Kerry Stokes.
"You talk about luck or skill, but there was a little shopping centre in Bunbury. Nobody had built a country shopping centre and that was 1966. I went and looked at it, and didn’t have any money, but I took an option for 30 days and raised about $100,000," he said.
"The amazing thing is if you do alright to begin with, people will help you. I borrowed from my bank $25,000 and in 90 days time I paid them back and we built the Bunbury Plaza, which was the first country shopping centre. We built it in 90 days with the major tenant Woolworths. Four years later sold it for $2 million and that started me off. At that time I met a young football player and doer called Kerry Stokes.
"Kerry and I then had a great partnership for 18 years. We did things together, formed public companies, built 11 shopping centres in the city and country and then after 18 years Kerry wanted to go east and I had more than I could have ever hoped, so we split our partnership. I think it was one of the best in Australia though."
Dr Bendat created the GWN network and then got involved with FM radio stations and became an innovator in so many ways.
"We didn’t have any FM radio stations in those days. That was the first one in Australia and within two years it became the No. 1 station," he said.
"We did the fireworks and Gary Roberts said to me that it was going to cost $25,000. I said it was ridiculous to spend that, but I was outvoted and today it's $1 million. We put back what we took out of Western Australia and we did a lot of good."
While Dr Bendat remains involved with a number different endeavours still, he has been the owner of the Perth Wildcats since 2005 and has overseen tremendous growth on and off the court. That has included a championship and now also the move into the Perth Arena for the 2012/13 season.
"It's fun and it fits into my giving back to Australia. All of our players during the year go to various schools and talk about leadership, and being better people. We went to over 250 schools last year," he said.
"It is keeping me young and I see these boys, I know them all by their first names and the fact that we won the championship two years ago, have made the finals for 25 years and are going to win the championship this year, I am very proud of them.
"It brings Australia together. We are the No. 1 team as far as basketball in Australia goes. I hate losing with a passion and there is only one winner, and that has to be the Wildcats. Nobody remembers who came in second or third, they only remember the winner."
Dr Bendat might have done well in his business pursuits over the years, but without doubt he has given back in spades to charities, to the Bendat Family Comprehensive Cancer Centre at St John of God Hospital and that's where his focus lies.
"First of all I resent being in BRW (Business Review Weekly). I've been in there for 25 years and I've tried to get my name out of there, but they refuse to do it and say they have the right to do it. I don’t think it's anybody's business how much I am or how much I'm not, what matters is what you do with the money," he said.
"I believe that if you have enough to take care of your family and look out for their future, then you have to share it and give it back. That's what I'm trying to do today. I want to use the money for something good rather than have it sit in the bank. I only want to help Western Australia because it has been so good to me.
"It's very important to give back and I can't take the money with me. I've made it a mission to give scholarships to young boys and girls, to help other kids, take care of the arts, take care of the Aboriginals and as long as I'm living I will keep the Foundation. If there is a worthy cause I will certainly support it."
As for where Dr Bendat's desire to give back to the community came from, he can trace that all the way back to his father.
"My mother and dad came from Poland and migrated to America without being able to speak any English, but my dad became a very strong supporter of charities. He lived to 102, and he came here when he was 98 years old, and all he did was charity work," Dr Bendat said.
"He believed in that if you make you have to put back. I've followed that theory. I learned in the early days that if you have enough then you should share and I think that was a good lesson."
