Geoffrey Edelsten
Born
Geoffrey Walter Edelsten

(1943-05-02)2 May 1943
Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
Died11 June 2021(2021-06-11) (aged 78)
Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
Education
Alma materUniversity of Melbourne
Occupation(s)Businessman, physician
Years active1966–2021
Spouses
  • Leanne Nesbitt
    ​
    (m. 1984⁠–⁠1988)​
  • ​
    (m. 2009⁠–⁠2014)​
  • Gabi Grecko
    ​
    (m. 2015)​
Children1
Websitegeoffedelsten.com.au

Geoffrey Walter Edelsten (2 May 1943 – 11 June 2021) was an Australian businessman and former physician known for founding the health care company Allied Medical Group.

Edelsten was a general practitioner whose unconventional clinics and luxurious lifestyle attracted media attention in the 1980s.[1] He owned mansions, helicopters, and a fleet of Rolls-Royces and Lamborghinis with license plates such as Macho, Spunky and Sexy.[2] His multidisciplinary clinics – the forerunners of modern corporate medical practices – were open 24 hours, and were fitted with chandeliers, grand pianos, and mink-covered examination tables.[3]

Edelsten was struck off the medical registry in New South Wales in 1988 and later in Victoria. In 1990, he was jailed for perverting the course of justice and soliciting Christopher Dale Flannery to assault a former patient.[4][5][6]

In 2005, Edelsten and a business partner founded Allied Medical Group, which by 2010 administered 17 medical centres and employed around 250 general practitioners.[7][8] Edelsten was not, however, a shareholder or owner of the company.[9]

Edelsten was the first private owner of a major Australian football team, the Sydney Swans, which he bought in 1985.[10]

Early life

Edelsten was born in Carlton, an inner suburb of Melbourne, on 2 May 1943.[11] His parents, Hymie and Esther, established Linda Leigh, a lingerie retail chain. His grandparents on both sides were Jewish immigrants from Eastern Europe. Edelsten attended Princes Hill Public School and, in 1960, matriculated at Mount Scopus Memorial College, Australia's first Jewish co-educational school.[12] He went on to study at the University of Melbourne, graduating with a Bachelor of Medicine, Bachelor of Surgery degree in 1966.[13]

Music career

In the 1960s, Edelsten owned a Melbourne-based record company, Hit Productions, which worked with music publishers Festival Records. During the same period, his family owned the Edels record retail chain.[14]

In 1966, Edelsten was credited with co-writing the songs "I Can't Stop Loving You, Baby" and "A Woman Of Gradual Decline" for the group the Last Straws, whose singles were released on his short-lived Scope label.[15][16]

In 1967, Hit Productions signed the group Cam-Pact, whose debut single, "Something Easy"/"Michael", charted in Melbourne in early 1968.[14] Later in 1968, Edelsten co-produced the single "Love Machine" for the studio group Pastoral Symphony, comprising Glenn Shorrock and his band the Twilights, Ronnie Charles of the Groop and various other musicians.[17]

Early medical career

Following his graduation in 1966, Edelsten practised as a resident medical officer at the Royal Melbourne Hospital before entering general practice. As a general practitioner, he worked in remote rural regions of New South Wales and Queensland, including the towns of Wauchope, Aramac and Walgett, where he bought his first private practice. He obtained a private pilot's licence in order to provide medical services to remote communities – often at no cost to patients when they could not afford to pay.[18]

In 1969, he and a colleague set up a new medical practice in the Sydney suburb of Coogee. After training an assistant doctor to perform the work in Walgett, Edelsten devoted more time to the Sydney practice, which soon expanded to Liverpool.[18]

In 1971, Edelsten and a colleague, Tom Wenkart, launched Preventicare,[19][20] a Sydney-based company providing diagnostic tests and computerised history-taking for doctors throughout Australia, using new equipment from the United States which could quickly and cheaply process pathology specimens.[21][22] Preventicare quickly incurred debts, because some of its operations were economically unsound, and because of the slow payment of patients' accounts totalling far more than the company's debts.[21] In July 1971, the Equity Court appointed a provisional liquidator to act as a temporary business manager to put the company's financial affairs in order.[21] Later that year, the General Manager of Preventicare, Brian Wickens, reported that the organisation was on a sound financial footing.[22] By 1975 – and under the new name of Morlea Pathology Services – it recorded annual profits of $2.5 million to $3 million.[19] Macquarie Professional Services is the successor to Preventicare.[19] During this period, Edelsten and his colleagues established eight practices in the Sydney area, and performed obstetrics at three western Sydney hospitals.[18] After three years in Los Angeles, California, Edelsten returned to Australia in 1978 to resume his general practice, surgical and obstetric commitments.[23][24]

Following the establishment of Medicare by the Hawke government in February 1984, Edelsten began to run innovative and multi-disciplinary 24-hour medical centres which were the forerunners of modern corporate medical practices.[3] Decorated with chandeliers, white grand pianos and mink-covered examination tables, the clinics attracted considerable media attention.[1][3][25] Edelsten's clinics were the first in Australia to bulk-bill patients to Medicare so that they incurred no direct cost.[18][26] Within four months of opening, the first clinic was dealing with 2,000 patients every week. Edelsten eventually owned thirteen medical centres, in which approximately 20,000 patients consulted 200 doctors every week.[27]

Sydney Swans

On 31 July 1985, Edelsten became the first private owner of a major Australian football team, the Sydney Swans.[10] A year later, Edelsten, on behalf of the Sydney Swans, tried to lure Essendon player Simon Madden with an offer of a three-year contract for a total of $550,000, although Madden chose to remain with Essendon for his entire career.[28] Madden said that he never regretted his decision.[29]

In July 1986, Edelsten tried to buy the Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks rugby league team, but his offer was refused by the game's administrators.[30][31]

Edelsten was a long-term benefactor of the Carlton Football Club and in March 2013 the club awarded him life membership.[32][33]

De-registration and conviction

In 1988, New South Wales removed Edelsten from its medical register for using unqualified staff for laser surgery.[34][35]

In 1990, he was convicted of perverting the course of justice and soliciting Christopher Dale Flannery to assault a former patient.[36] The evidence used to convict Edelsten included a taped telephone conversation in which he and his wife discussed Flannery.[2] Edelsten had provided a medical certificate in 1984 stating that Flannery was unfit to stand trial because of an infection following tattoo removal surgery, leading to the trial being adjourned and Flannery's case not being heard by a particular judge.[2][37] Edelsten and Flannery's wife testified at a Victorian Medical Board hearing that Flannery was ill and in hospital and that he had no contact with Edelsten before or at the time of the assault.[38] However, Edelsten was jailed for one year for perverting the course of justice and soliciting an assault.[4][3]

In 1992, New South Wales politician Fred Nile told Parliament that since Edelsten's deregistration in the state, he had relocated to Victoria where he could practise medicine.[39] Edelsten was subsequently removed from the Victorian medical register.[40]

In 2001, Edelsten launched "Gene E", a company offering paternity testing by mail order. The service advertised on late-night television. Customers telephoned for a testing kit, which the company mailed to them. In five working days of receiving the completed test, the company returned the results to the customer by post.[41]

Edelsten sought readmittance as a medical practitioner in New South Wales.[42] In 2003, he told the NSW Medical Tribunal that he regretted his conduct and expressed remorse.[43] Referring to his doctorate in philosophy from Pacific Western University, counsel assisting the Tribunal claimed that people could be misled by the words "professor" and "doctor" into thinking Edelsten could practise medicine. Edelsten told the commission that he would no longer use the doctor honorific if necessary.[42] In 2004, the same tribunal banned Edelsten from applying again for four years.[44][45]

Later career

In 2005, Edelsten and a business partner founded Allied Medical Group.[9] Allied Medical Group employs approximately 250 general practitioners,[7] and runs seventeen "Superclinics" in Victoria, three in Queensland, and one in South Australia.[46] The clinics offer extended opening hours and bulk-billing for patients to Medicare for most services, so that the patient incurs no direct cost.[47] Following the Australian government's 2008 decision to open "GP Super Clinics" in 31 locations across the nation, Edelsten challenged the Department of Health's use of the word "superclinic", which he claimed to be a registered trademark belonging to Allied Medical Group.[48] In 2011, Allied Medical Group was sold to Sonic Healthcare, in a deal worth up to $200 million.[49]

In January 2014, Edelsten filed for bankruptcy in the United States. His Australian lawyers said this was a strategy to "better realise the investments made in the US".[50][51]

In 2015, Edelsten was a contestant in the fourth season of The Celebrity Apprentice Australia.[52]

Personal life

Edelsten's second wife Brynne

Edelsten met and married his first wife, Leanne Nesbitt, in the early 1980s. She was 19 years old and working as a model. During this period, his flamboyant lifestyle attracted media attention – he owned mansions, a football team, a fleet of Rolls-Royces and Lamborghinis with license plates such as Macho, Spunky and Sexy,[2] and was associated, in the media, with a pink helicopter (although Edelsten and his wife insisted, in later interviews, that their helicopter was in fact blue and white).[2][53][54][55][56][57][58] The couple was divorced after three years of marriage.[11]

In January 2009, Edelsten announced his intention to marry Brynne Gordon,[59] a 25-year-old fitness instructor from California.[60][61] They were married on 29 November 2009, in Melbourne's Crown Casino. The wedding was alleged to have cost approximately $3 million and featured a helicopter, a Bentley, 550 guests, circus performers and performances by Tom Burlinson and other headline acts. Guests received a pre-wedding DVD about Edelsten and Gordon featuring narration by actor Jason Alexander, who gave an address at the wedding. Actress Fran Drescher also attended – although neither Alexander nor Drescher knew the couple.[62]

Edelsten requested that guests attending his 2009 wedding not give wedding presents, but donate to the Great Expectations Foundation, a non-profit organisation he founded in 2008, which claimed to provide funds to charities including beyondblue, the Royal Children's Hospital and Magen David Adom.[62] More than three years on, many of the charities once linked to Great Expectations had received no funds and, in at least one case, took moves to sever ties with Edelsten's foundation. A Fairfax Media investigation found that at least three charitable and not-for-profit groups had either never received money from Edelsten's foundation, or were unaware their names were being used to fund-raise from the public and wedding guests. They include the Royal Children's Hospital, the Lighthouse Foundation and the American Women's Auxiliary.[63]

In June 2012, thieves stole luxury cars belonging to Edelsten, worth more than $1.4 million. Among them was a Lamborghini Aventador worth approximately $800,000 – one of only a handful of Aventadors in Australia.[64]

In January 2014, it was announced that Edelsten's marriage to Brynne was over. Brynne said she was unable to forgive "her publicity-obsessed husband for a reported dalliance with another woman more than 18 months ago".[65]

In July 2014, it was announced that Edelsten intended to marry Gabi Grecko, who is 46 years younger.[66] Edelsten and Grecko married on 11 June 2015.[67]

Death

Edelsten was found dead at his Melbourne apartment on 11 June 2021, aged 78.

He was buried in a small service at Springvale Cemetery on 16 June 2021.[68]

References

  1. 1 2 "Four Corners timelines for 1984". Australian Broadcasting Corporation. Archived from the original on 31 May 2009. Retrieved 25 March 2008.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 McClymont, Kate (12 September 2009). "Tell him I love my husband, but not that much". The Sydney Morning Herald. Archived from the original on 13 September 2009. Retrieved 12 September 2009.
  3. 1 2 3 4 "50 most influential people: 2005" (PDF). Australian Doctor. 2005. p. 12. Archived (PDF) from the original on 2 September 2007. Retrieved 25 March 2008.
  4. 1 2 "Edelsten tries to re-enter the ranks of doctors". The Age. Melbourne. 25 November 2003. Archived from the original on 12 January 2008. Retrieved 21 March 2008.
  5. ↑ Brown, Alex (1 July 2004). "A few regrets but Edelsten is still true Blue". The Sydney Morning Herald. Archived from the original on 8 April 2008. Retrieved 21 March 2008.
  6. ↑ Hornery, Andrew (2 February 2008). "Life & Style – Web of confusion". The Sydney Morning Herald. Archived from the original on 31 May 2009. Retrieved 24 March 2008.
  7. 1 2 Hawthorne, Mark (11 February 2010). "Edelsten at the top of UBS shopping list". The Sydney Morning Herald. Archived from the original on 14 February 2010. Retrieved 24 February 2010.
  8. ↑ "Geoffrey Edelsten preparing to sell his $200 million chain of GP clinics". news.com.au. 13 July 2010. Archived from the original on 15 July 2010. Retrieved 28 September 2011.
  9. 1 2 Butler, Ben (4 January 2011). "Mystery still surrounds Allied accounts". The Sydney Morning Herald. Archived from the original on 17 June 2014. Retrieved 28 September 2011.
  10. 1 2 "Sydney Swans- A Brief History – official website". Archived from the original on 15 January 2013. Retrieved 13 January 2013.
  11. 1 2 "John Konrads: star of Australia's golden age of swimming dies at 78". The Guardian. London. Australian Associated Press. 11 June 2021. Archived from the original on 11 June 2021. Retrieved 11 June 2021.
  12. ↑ "The fall and rise to riches of Edelsten and his young bride". The Sydney Morning Herald. 5 July 2010. Archived from the original on 11 June 2021. Retrieved 11 June 2021.
  13. ↑ Noble, Freya (11 June 2021). "Geoffrey Edelsten dies aged 78 at his apartment in Melbourne". Nine News. Archived from the original on 11 June 2021. Retrieved 11 June 2021.
  14. 1 2 "CAM-PACT — Melbourne 1967–1970". MILESAGO: Australasian Music and Popular Culture 1964–1975 — Groups and Solo artists. Duncan Kimball. 9 May 2008. Archived from the original on 24 July 2008. Retrieved 16 June 2008.
  15. ↑ Laird, Ross. "The Sixties:Australian rock & pop recordings, 1964–1969 (page 167)" (PDF). National Film and Sound Archive. Archived from the original (PDF) on 13 May 2008. Retrieved 25 March 2008.
  16. ↑ "The Go!!/Scope Labels – Volume Two". Australian Television Memorabilia Guide. 2003. Archived from the original on 17 July 2011. Retrieved 25 March 2008.
  17. ↑ "Pastoral Symphony". Australian Rock Database. Magnus Holmgren. Archived from the original on 16 June 2007. Retrieved 25 March 2008.
  18. 1 2 3 4 Medical Tribunal of New South Wales (31 July 2001). "No 40018/00 – In the matter of Geoffrey Walter Edelsten – Reasons for Determination" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 30 August 2007. Retrieved 12 September 2009.
  19. 1 2 3 Sampson, John (October 1985). "The Business Side of Pathology" (PDF). The Sydney Morning Herald (page 4). Archived (PDF) from the original on 11 July 2011. Retrieved 6 November 2008.
  20. ↑ Wynne, J Michael (November 2005). "Tom Wenkart and Macquarie Health – Review of 1971 origin with Dr Edelsten". Corporate Medicine Web Site. University of Wollongong. Archived from the original on 8 March 2008. Retrieved 1 June 2008.
  21. 1 2 3 McIlraith, Shaun (July 1971). "Medical computer company agrees to liquidator" (PDF). The Sydney Morning Herald. p. 8). Archived (PDF) from the original on 29 December 2009. Retrieved 6 November 2008.
  22. 1 2 "Medical network now being extended" (PDF). The Sydney Morning Herald. 13 August 1971. p. 28). Archived (PDF) from the original on 11 July 2011. Retrieved 6 November 2008.
  23. ↑ "Computer Helps in Diagnosis". Los Angeles Times. 18 November 1977. p. 34. Archived from the original on 12 June 2021. Retrieved 11 June 2021.
  24. ↑ "I fulfill medical need, says Edelsten". The Age. Melbourne. 12 November 1987. p. 9B. Archived from the original on 11 June 2021. Retrieved 11 June 2021.
  25. ↑ "Chris Masters". Four Corners celebrates 40 years – in 90 minutes: Interviews. Australian Broadcasting Corporation. Archived from the original on 22 October 2008. Retrieved 25 March 2008.
  26. ↑ Smith, Paul (26 June 2008). "What's in a name? 'Superclinic' stoush". Australian Doctor. Archived from the original on 31 May 2009. Retrieved 25 August 2008.
  27. ↑ Walton, Merrilyn (1998). The Trouble With Medicine. Allen & Unwin. p. 224. ISBN 1-86448-471-3. Archived from the original on 12 June 2021. Retrieved 22 September 2016.
  28. ↑ Holmesby, Russell; Main, Jim (2002). The Encyclopedia of AFL Footballers: every AFL/VFL player since 1897 (4th ed.). Melbourne, Victoria: Crown Content. p. 397. ISBN 1-74095-001-1.
  29. ↑ Niall, Jake (8 December 2009). "Should I stay or should I go?". The Age. Retrieved 25 May 2022.
  30. ↑ Abouchar, Dom (July 1986). "Edelsten and the Sharks". Rugby League Week. Archived from the original on 7 July 2011. Retrieved 25 August 2008.
  31. ↑ "The Edelsten-Sharks Marriage". Archived from the original on 30 May 2009. Retrieved 22 March 2008.
  32. ↑ Lane, Samantha (14 March 2013), "Blues snub Docklands in push to make MCG home", The Age, Melbourne, archived from the original on 17 March 2013, retrieved 10 April 2013
  33. ↑ De Bolfo, Tony (15 March 2013), 2013 Carlton Hall of Fame, Carlton Football Club, archived from the original on 25 April 2013, retrieved 10 April 2013
  34. ↑ "Edelsten determined to take up practice again". Australian Doctor. 17 October 2003. Archived from the original on 16 April 2008. Retrieved 25 March 2008.
  35. ↑ "Geoffrey Edelsten – Reasons for Determination" (PDF). Medical Tribunal of New South Wales. 29 January 2004. Archived from the original (PDF) on 28 August 2007. Retrieved 14 June 2008.
  36. ↑ R v Edelsten [1990] 51 A Crim R 397. (see copy Archived 11 July 2011 at the Wayback Machine of volume index and first page)
  37. ↑ Grabosky, Peter N.; Russell G. Smith (1998). Crime in the Digital Age: Controlling Telecommunications and Cyberspace. Transaction Publishing. p. 27. ISBN 0-7658-0458-1. Archived from the original on 14 October 2017. Retrieved 26 March 2008.
  38. ↑ Heath, Sally (17 August 1991). "Flannery evidence proves wrongful conviction: Edelsten" (PDF). The Age. Archived (PDF) from the original on 11 July 2011. Retrieved 8 September 2008.
  39. ↑ "Hansard Transcript, Legislative Council". Parliament of NSW. 27 October 1992. Archived from the original on 13 January 2017. Retrieved 25 March 2008.
  40. ↑ "The doctor takes a wife – again". The Sydney Morning Herald. 21 November 2009. Archived from the original on 25 March 2010. Retrieved 4 July 2010.
  41. ↑ O'Brien, Kerry (5 March 2001), DNA and paternity case may set mammoth precedent, 7.30 Report, archived from the original on 14 June 2013, retrieved 27 February 2013
  42. 1 2 Lamont, Leonie (25 November 2003). "Repentant Edelsten wants to practise again". The Sydney Morning Herald. Archived from the original on 18 June 2009. Retrieved 24 March 2008.
  43. ↑ "Edelsten appeals to NSW Medical Tribunal". ABC News. Australian Broadcasting Corporation. 24 November 2003. Archived from the original on 31 May 2009. Retrieved 16 June 2008.
  44. ↑ "Former doctor to remain struck off medical register". Australian Broadcasting Corporation. 29 January 2004. Archived from the original on 19 April 2008. Retrieved 25 March 2008.
  45. ↑ Anastasopoulos, Christina (13 February 2004). "Edelsten still on the outer". News Briefs. Australian Doctor. Mr Edelsten represented himself at the hearing, where he admitted he lied to the tribunal at his last attempt to be re-registered in 2001.
    Tribunal deputy chairman John Maguire said while Mr Edelsten might have spent the past 16 years acquiring an impressive array of degrees and doing charitable work, his character was flawed. He was banned from re-applying for re-registration for four years.
  46. ↑ Allied Medical Group: Clinic Locations, Allied Medical Group, archived from the original on 9 April 2013, retrieved 28 February 2013
  47. ↑ Allied Medical Group: About Us, Allied Medical Group, archived from the original on 9 April 2013, retrieved 28 February 2013
  48. ↑ McArthur, Grant (26 June 2008). "Superclinic doubt, says Geoffrey Edelsten". Herald Sun. Archived from the original on 27 June 2008. Retrieved 1 July 2008.
  49. ↑ Lynch, Jared (8 July 2011), "$200m is just what the former doctor ordered", The Age, Melbourne, archived from the original on 1 May 2014, retrieved 28 February 2013
  50. ↑ Ben Butler and Chris Vedelago. "Geoffrey Edelsten files for US bankruptcy". The Sydney Morning Herald. Archived from the original on 12 January 2014. Retrieved 13 January 2014.
  51. ↑ "Inside the crazy world of Geoffrey Edelsten and Gabi Grecko". news.com.au. 14 December 2014. Archived from the original on 14 December 2014. Retrieved 14 December 2014.
  52. ↑ Hoyer, Melissa (20 July 2015). "Gabi Grecko, Geoffrey Edelsten, Mel Greig sign up for Celebrity Apprentice". news.com.au. Archived from the original on 21 July 2015. Retrieved 21 July 2015.
  53. ↑ "VFL 1985: Geoff Edelsten buys Sydney Swans" (YouTube video – still from 2 minutes 30 seconds into clip). Seven's Big League. Seven Network; clip republished on YouTube. 1985. Archived from the original on 12 June 2021. Retrieved 25 August 2008.
  54. ↑ Craven, Ian (29 April 1994). Australian Popular Culture. Cambridge University Press. p. 58. ISBN 0-521-46667-9.
  55. ↑ Hinds, Richard (20 September 2003). "The stripes earned through hype and hardship". The Sydney Morning Herald. Archived from the original on 16 April 2008. Retrieved 24 August 2008.
  56. ↑ "Sydney goes for the doctor". Herald Sun. 23 May 2008. Archived from the original on 1 June 2009. Retrieved 24 August 2008.
  57. ↑ Gorman, Sean (2005). Brotherboys: The Story of Jim and Phillip Krakouer. Allen & Unwin. p. 178. ISBN 9781741156447. Retrieved 25 August 2008.
  58. ↑ Hinds, Richard (19 May 2006). "A compelling history of hardship and helicopters". The Sydney Morning Herald. Archived from the original on 4 November 2012. Retrieved 24 August 2008.
  59. ↑ Byrne, Fiona (2 January 2009). "Geoffrey Edelsten to wed Brynne Groden". Herald Sun. Archived from the original on 3 January 2009. Retrieved 12 January 2009.
  60. ↑ "Doc lands busty party girl". The Daily Telegraph. 6 January 2009. Archived from the original on 12 June 2021. Retrieved 12 January 2009.
  61. ↑ "Disgraced Doctor Geoffrey Edelsten's Wedding For Sale", The Daily Telegraph
  62. 1 2 Brooks, Karen (1 December 2009). "Trivial pursuits of bedroom antics". news.com.au. Archived from the original on 12 June 2021. Retrieved 24 February 2010.
  63. ↑ Vedelago, Chris. "Union fails to meet expectations". The Sydney Morning Herald. Archived from the original on 12 June 2021. Retrieved 25 May 2013.
  64. ↑ "Fleet of Geoffrey Edelsten's luxury cars stolen". The Australian. 7 June 2012. Archived from the original on 12 June 2021. Retrieved 4 February 2018.
  65. ↑ Andrew Hornery (24 November 2011). "Brynne Edelsten ends marriage to Geoffrey". The Sydney Morning Herald. Archived from the original on 13 January 2014. Retrieved 13 January 2014.
  66. ↑ "Geoffrey Edelsten and Gabi Grecko to marry". The Sydney Morning Herald. 16 July 2014. Archived from the original on 17 July 2014. Retrieved 16 July 2014.
  67. ↑ "Gabi Grecko marries Geoffrey Edelsten in Vegas style wedding...in Melbourne". The Sydney Morning Herald. 12 June 2015. Archived from the original on 11 June 2015. Retrieved 11 June 2015.
  68. ↑ Dib, Abbir; Pierik, Jon; Spits, Scott (11 June 2021). "Geoffrey Edelsten found dead in Melbourne apartment". The Sydney Morning Herald. Archived from the original on 12 June 2021. Retrieved 12 June 2021.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.