Ian Norman (businessman)

This article is about the Australian businessman. For the English professor, see Ian Norman.

Ian John Norman (5 February 1939 – 29 May 2014)^[1] was an Australian businessman and retail executive.^[2]

Ian Norman
Born	Ian John Norman (1939-02-05)5 February 1939 Australia
Died	29 May 2014(2014-05-29) (aged 75) Terrigal, New South Wales, Australia
Occupation(s)	Business executive, company co-founder

Career

Norman met his business partner Gerry Harvey when both were working as travelling door-to-door vacuum cleaner salesmen.^[3] In 1961, the duo partnered to open their first store in Sydney, which specialised in home appliances and electronics.^[3][2] Their store, which was called Norman Ross, expanded to forty-two stores by 1979, with annual sales of $240 million that year.^[3] Harvey and Norman sold the Norman Ross chain to Grace Bros who subsequently sold the company to Alan Bond in 1982.^[2][3]

The business partners then co-founded Harvey Norman, an Australian independently owned retail chain, that bears their name, in 1982.^[3][2] The new chain offered consumer electronics, furniture, and other household goods.^[2] The first Harvey Norman store opened in a shopping centre in Auburn, in 1982, the same year as the sale.^[3]

Forbes, had estimated in 2001, that he was 37th richest person in Australia.

By 2014, Norman, who remained an executive, held 175 million shares of Harvey Norman, a 16.5% stake worth an estimated $560 million.^[3][2] He, who had previously resided at Darling Point, died from throat cancer at his home at Terrigal on 29 May 2014, at the age of 75.^[2][4]