Alan Bond Dead: Controversial Businessman Dies After Heart Surgery Aged 77

Alan Bond has died in Perth, Australia, at the age of 77, his family have announced.

The controversial Australian entrepreneur died on June 5 at the Fiona Stanley Hospital in Perth days after undergoing heart surgery.

Alan Bond, who was born in the UK, became one of Australia’s richest men, funding Australia’s shock win of the America’s Cup yachting race in 1983.

He fell from grace in 1996 when found guilty of Australia’s then biggest corporate fraud.

Alan Bond’s children, John Bond and Jody Fewster, speaking outside Fiona Stanley Hospital, said he had died on Friday morning. He had been in a coma since his heart surgery three days ago.

His body “finally gave out after heroic efforts of everyone involved here at the intensive care unit at Fiona Stanley Hospital”, John Bond said.

John Bond paid tribute to his father, saying that to a lot of people, he was a “larger-than-life character” who started with nothing and rose to the heights of corporate Australia.

Alan Bond shot to public acclaim in Australia in 1983 after he bankrolled what would be the country’s successful challenge of the coveted America’s Cup yachting race.

A decade later, the man dubbed Australian of the Year in 1978, fell spectacularly from grace.

In 1992, Alan Bond was declared bankrupt, with personal debts totaling A$1.8 billion ($1.4 billion).

Alan Bond was jailed in 1997 for what would be described as Australia’s biggest case of corporate fraud.

In Western Australia (WA), where Alan Bond’s corporate collapse had the most impact on investors who lost money, not everyone remembers him favorably.

Alan Bond is survived by his ex-wife Eileen and three of his children, John, Craig and Jody.