Reclusive owner of Sydney’s most iconic abandoned buildings Isaac Wakil leaves fortune to nephew – and a pointed message to relatives planning to contest the will

A reclusive philanthropist once known with his late wife for a $200million property empire of abandoned buildings they land banked for decades has left his estate to their nephew – and included an unusually direct warning to any relatives considering a challenge.

Jewish immigrants Isaac and Susan Wakil were once regular fixtures in the social pages of Sydney newspapers but largely disappeared from public view sometime in the 1990s.

The couple became the subject of renewed attention when they were revealed as the owners of some of the city’s most recognisable structures, among them the Griffiths Tea building in Surry Hills and the Terminus Hotel at Pyrmont.

They had built extensive holdings by purchasing abandoned old warehouses on the edge of the central business district and inner suburbs then leaving them empty.

After selling most of their properties, the Wakils went on a philanthropic spree, donating more than $100million to public institutions, particularly the Art Gallery of NSW and the University of Sydney 

The Wakils, who had no children, remained inseparable and devoted to each other throughout a 65-year marriage until Susan’s death in May 2018, aged 84. 

Isaac lived to 104 and died in July, a year after selling the Vaucluse home he had shared with Susan for almost 60 years for $55million.

The Daily Mail has now obtained a copy of Isaac’s will, which runs to just three pages – including cover sheet and signatures – and was made on October 3 last year.

The will bequeaths most of what was left of the Wakils’ vast wealth, after paying any debts as well as funeral and legal expenses, to his nephew David Khedoori.

Isaac made it clear he and his wife had amassed their own fortune, and whatever he still owned was now solely his to disperse as he pleased. 

‘My business, wealth and assets were a partnership between Susan and me,’ he wrote in the will. 

‘There were no interconnections or dealings with any family members. Each family member had their own business.

‘My relationship with all family members have always been amicable, and all family members have had love and joyful relationships with Susan and me and we love them.

‘Five years ago I started making gifts to family members and their children to the limits which I consider to be fair and reasonable, not equally but according to my feelings and closeness.’

In closing, Isaac added a sentence to forestall any relative other than Khedoori attempting to make a claim on his estate. 

‘I am of good mind and balance, all matters and gifts have been given with consideration to my relationships and any claims should be rejected,’ he stipulated.

Khedoori was already extremely rich. He paid an estimated $40million for a harbourside mansion in Carrara Road, Vaucluse in October last year, having sold his previous home in Vaucluse Road for about $56million. 

A provision was made in the will for an eight-storey building at 82-84 Sussex Street near Barangaroo to be held in trust by Khedoori and KPMG partner Brett Mitchell ‘by an agreement made between us’.

That derelict 2,896 sqm warehouse, built about 1880, was one of the few Wakil properties not sold before Susan’s death and is currently listed for sale. 

Isaac Ezra Wakil was born in Baghdad in 1922 and raised within one of the city’s most prominent Jewish families.

He fled violent antisemitism in Iraq and arrived in Sydney in 1947, opening a dress shop at Bondi where he met another Jewish refugee, Susan Resnick.

Susan had escaped war-torn Bessarabia in eastern Europe following her mother’s death in a Soviet labour camp. She married Isaac in 1953.

Together, they built a fortune in the clothing industry through their company Smart-Eez, based at Surry Hills in the inner-city.

From the 1970s onwards, the couple bought up to 15 neglected warehouses in what were then unfashionable parts of Sydney, leaving them dilapidated and unleased.

The couple made enough money to become significant benefactors, supporting the Art Gallery of NSW from the 1960s.

Susan became one of the darlings of Sydney’s social scene, dressing in the latest French couture fashion, especially designs by Yves Saint Laurent, and hosting lavish charity dinners.

By tradition, she supplied the flowers for the Black and White Ball, an annual gala event thrown to raise funds for the Royal Blind Society, then Vision Australia.  

At some point in the 1990s, Susan dropped off the opening night circuit and her debonair husband also stepped out of the limelight.

‘When Susan decided not to go out any more, I chose to stay at home with her,’ Isaac told the Wentworth Courier in 2016.

‘We do not accept any invitations. My work and business is set up from my house.’

As the run-down buildings the couple had bought relatively cheaply became increasingly attractive to developers and gained in value, the Wakils were sitting on real estate estimated to be worth $200million.

They owned a multi-storey stone building at 426 Kent Street in the city, a vacant lot at 69a Harris Street, Pyrmont, and another warehouse at 12 Pyrmont Street in the same suburb. 

It is understood the couple had once been determined to restore at least some of their historic holdings but as they grew older that prospect grew beyond them. 

The Wakils began selling off their property portfolio in 2014, having made plans to establish a charitable foundation to which they would donate the proceeds.

They offloaded the Griffiths Tea warehouse in Wentworth Avenue, Surry Hills, to the Cornerstone Property Group for $22million in November that year.

It was turned into New York-style apartments, with the penthouse going for $4million. A warehouse and vacant lot at 100 Harris Street in Pyrmont went for $90million. 

That premises had been one of the few Wakils’ buildings to have a tenant – it housed the office of their company Citliease, where their cream Rolls-Royce was often seen parked in the 1990s.

One of the couple’s prominent properties was the nearby Terminus Hotel, which they bought for $250,000 in 1984, the year after its owner called last drinks.

The pub remained closed for the next 34 years and was occupied by squatters as it gradually became overgrown by a thick carpet of ivy.

The Wakils sold the disused pub for an undisclosed sum in 2015 to the Auswin TWT group, who in turn sold it to David Mathlin and Binu Katari for $4.75million the next year. After a $2million renovation, the hotel reopened in 2018.

The Wakils announced in 2016 the first recipients of their foundation would be the University of Sydney’s nursing school, which would receive $10.8million.

Isaac said in a statement the donation was a gift to the nation which had ‘treated them so well’ and that the contribution nurses made to society was often overlooked.

‘Susan and I appreciate the valuable work of nurses in the front line of health care,’ he said.

The nursing school donation funded a scholarship program to assist undergraduate and postgraduate students with accommodation and tuition.

‘Australia is a great country and it’s a good feeling to give something back,’ Isaac said.

That same year, the Susan and Isaac Wakil Foundation gave $35million to build a new health precinct at the University of Sydney which became known as the Susan Wakil Health Building.

‘We were inspired by the radical and innovative approach the University of Sydney is taking to address immediate and future healthcare challenges,’ Isaac said.

‘Susan and I are pleased to be able to make this project a reality.’

The couple became the university’s single largest benefactor, putting $20million towards the Isaac Wakil Biomedical Building, part of the Sydney Biomedical Accelerator. 

They supported St Vincent’s Hospital, Vision Australia and the Sydney Jewish Museum and pledged $24million to the Art Gallery of NSW’s Sydney Modern expansion project in 2017. 

David Gonski, president of the Art Gallery of NSW Trust, had been trying to raise $100million to complete the $344million construction costs when he got a call from Isaac.

‘What you need is a big impetus,’ Isaac told Gonski, who asked him what he had in mind. ‘How about $20million?’ he answered, before adding, ‘Maybe a bit more.’ 

Another program the Wakils funded provided $20 tickets for first-time opera-goers to attend performances at the Sydney Opera House and the Arts Centre Melbourne. 

Isaac and Susan Wakil were both made Officers of the Order of Australia – the nation’s second-highest civil honour – in 2017.

Fittingly, their citations were identical: ‘For distinguished service to the community through a range of philanthropic endeavours, and as a supporter of charitable, education and cultural organisations.’

In May 2018, Isaac announced the death of his beloved wife with a notice on page six of The Sydney Morning Herald.

‘It is with great pain and shock that Isaac Wakil sadly announces the untimely passing of his devoted wife, a partner, friend, his pillar and icon… Susan,’ it read.

‘Her generous and vibrant personality will be deeply missed and forever remembered by many wonderful admiring friends and our large and caring family. 

‘My love for Susan will never fade. And to me she will always remain beautiful.

‘Isaac requests friends and family bear with him as he has decided to take one year of mourning. In lieu of flowers, your kind thoughts stand.’

Isaac stayed out of the public eye for the remainder of his life but was widely mourned when he died on July 1.

Gonski told the Australian Jewish News the Wakils were ‘true visionaries who made Sydney a better and more generous place’.

‘Their generosity was matched only by their humility and deep belief in the power of art to improve lives,’ he said.

The University of Sydney paid tribute to ‘one of our most transformational partners, who, alongside his beloved wife Susan, has left an immeasurable legacy contributing to the educational, medical and cultural landscape of Australia’.

Former chancellor Belinda Hutchinson described Isaac as ‘not only a treasured supporter of the university but as a dear friend’.

‘Isaac and Susan’s life partnership was inspiring,’ she said. 

‘Coming to Australia as refugees, they built a highly successful life in their adopted home. 

‘They epitomised what it means to be true philanthropists, by giving back to their community to build a better future.’