Kerry Packer: Australian Media Mogul Dies at 68

Kerry Packer was an Australian media tycoon and Australia's richest man. Born on December 17, 1937, in Sydney, he took over the family's media business after his father, Sir Frank Packer, died in 1974.

He controlled the Nine Network and Australian Consolidated Press through Publishing and Broadcasting Limited and invested in casinos, including Crown in Melbourne. In 1977 he founded World Series Cricket, which changed professional cricket by paying players and introducing night matches.

Packer sold Nine to Alan Bond in 1987 and bought it back in 1990 for far less. He married Roslyn Weedon in 1963 and had two children, Gretel and James. He died of kidney failure at his home in Sydney on December 26, 2005, at age 68.

Achievements: Founder of World Series Cricket (1977), chairman of Publishing and Broadcasting Limited.

Birth: December 17, 1937 - Sydney, Australia.

Profession: Media proprietor.

Interesting Facts: He was buried on the family's Ellerston property.