Australian businessman John Ilhan was born on 23 January 1965 and passed away on 23 October 2007. He founded the Crazy John's chain of mobile phone stores, and in 2003, he was the richest Australian under 40.
Early Career & Life
Ilhan was born in Yozgat, Turkey, in 1965, and when he was five years old, he moved to Australia with his family. He was raised in Melbourne's north-west working-class neighbourhood of Broadmeadows. He went to Broadmeadows High School after attending Jacana Primary School in this location. He participated in the school's basketball, football and soccer teams while attending Jacana Primary. Ilhan joined the sales team at the phone and electronics company Strathfield Car Radio after only a single year of college and a brief stint as a Ford salesperson. In 1991, he left to open his own mobile phone store in Brunswick's inner city, directly across the street from Strathfield's. Ilhan opened a few outlets in Sydney, Brisbane, and Adelaide after growing the company into Australia's largest Telstra mobile dealership with 18 stores in Victoria.
Personal life
In the Australian Football League, Ilhan was a fervent fan of the Richmond Football Club. He put in bids for the board and even offered to buy out Terry Wallace's contract in an effort to get Kevin Sheedy on the club and boost performance.
Wealth & Charitable Giving
With a net worth of $200 million, Ilan topped Business Review Weekly's 2003 list of Australia's Young Rich. He was ranked as Australia's 126th richest man in the 2007 Rich List with a net worth of A$310 million. Having a net worth of more than $300 million Australian dollars by the time he was 40, Ilhan was motivated to take up philanthropy and donate a significant portion of his income to charitable causes. He was known as one of the nation's most generous philanthropists before passing away in 2007 at the age of 42. He consistently gave to a wide range of nonprofit groups. Ilhan established the Ilhan Food Allergy Foundation in 2006. The Foundation's mission is to further research and inform the public about the problems and causes associated with anaphylaxis. Because his daughter had a severe peanut allergy, he gave $1 million to start the Ilhan Food Allergy Foundation. The Alfred Hospital Department of Allergy, Immunology and Respiratory Medicine and the Murdoch Children's Research Institute Allergy and Immune Disorders Research Group Department of Allergy and Immunology all received funding from the Ilhan Food Allergy Foundation during his lifetime.
Death
On October 23, 2007, while on a morning walk in Brighton, Melbourne, 42-year-old Ilhan passed away. An autopsy later determined that he had an inherited heart problem. Patricia, his wife, and their four children survived him. The day before he passed away, Today Tonight aired his final interview. The Broadmeadows Mosque hosted a typical Islamic funeral on October 26, 2007. Ahmed Fahour and Eddie McGuire were two of the about 3,000 mourners.