Bill and Imelda Roche

Bill Roche and Imelda Roche AO are Australian business persons who established Nutrimetics International (Australia) Pty Limited in 1968. [1][2]

Bill and Imelda Roche
NationalityAustralian
OccupationBusinesspeople
Known forEstablishment of Nutrimetics in Australia

Biography

The couple met in a supermarket in 1956 and started in business selling lamps door-to-door. [3]

In 1968 the couple bought the Australian franchise to Nutrimetics, starting with $6,000 of stock. In 1991, they acquired the worldwide interests of Nutrimetics International. The Nutrimetics Group was sold in 1997 to the Sara Lee Corporation. At the time of sale the company had a turnover of A$250 million a year.

Bill and Imelda Roche are now property developers and investors. They started their real estate investments with the purchase of a Sydney warehouse in the late 1950s. They now own residential land subdivisions, rural properties and office complexes.

Imelda Roche was Acting Chancellor of Bond University from 5 August 1999 to 25 November 1999, and served as Chancellor from 25 November 1999 to 30 May 2003.[4] Imelda Roche was appointed an Officer of the Order of Australia for her distinguished service of a high degree to Australia or to humanity at large. She is now retired.

Roche Group has a strong presence in the Hunter region, owning several Hunter Valley landmarks, including the award-winning Hunter Valley Gardens, the live concert venue Roche Estate and Harrigan's Irish Pub.

In 2020 controversy continues to grow around a Roche Group housing development planned at West Wallsend, NSW.[5] For almost ten years, activists have been fighting to protect an Aboriginal women’s site situated on land slated for development.  Despite both the NSW government and the Australian Federal government recognising the site's significance via legislation, [6] [7] Roche Group appear to be pushing ahead with plans that could see the Butterfly Cave women’s cultural site desecrated or damaged.

Their wealth was estimated at A$1.42 billion in the 2019 Rich List of Australian business magazine Australian Financial Review.

  • Imelda Roche life size bronze sculpture with her grandchildren as centrepiece of rose garden in Hunter Valley Gardens by Linda Klarfeld
  • Life-size bronze statue of William Roche outside Hunter Valley Gardens by sculptor Linda Klarfeld

References
  1. "Imelda Roche AO, b. 1934". National Portrait Gallery people. Retrieved 2 August 2020.
  2. "The Year that Made Me: Imelda Roche 1968". ABC Radio National. 12 May 2019. Retrieved 2 August 2020.
  3. "The Roche formula for lasting wealth". Australian Financial Review. 28 May 2019. Retrieved 2 August 2020.
  4. "Chancellor - University Governance - Bond University". Archived from the original on 15 April 2008. Retrieved 6 May 2008.
  5. McMillan, Melinda (25 October 2017). "Butterfly Cave threat". Newcastle Herald. Retrieved 7 August 2020.
  6. "Butterfly Cave | NSW Environment, Energy and Science". www.environment.nsw.gov.au. Retrieved 7 August 2020.
  7. Agriculture. "Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Heritage Protection (Butterfly Cave, West Wallsend, NSW) Declaration 2019". www.legislation.gov.au. Retrieved 7 August 2020.
Academic offices
Preceded by
Paul Scully-Power		 Chancellor of Bond University
1999 – 2003		 Succeeded by
Trevor Rowe


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