The West Australian Rich List 2019: You can’t take the fortune with you

This year’s WA Rich List — free inside today’s The West Australian — is marked by the deaths of family leaders.

Summit Homes Group founder John Simpson died in August last year, leaving son David in charge.

Chiu Chi Wen’s mother Chook Yew Chong Wen, founder of Malaysian company Selangor Properties, died in September last year.

Gull fuels founder Fred Rae died four months ago, his family’s key businesses having long been sold.

These families will hopefully stay in this list for many years.

But it may not be the case with the Perron family, whose patriarch Stan Perron died in November.

Just last week, the Perron family’s Rich List entry was laid out on page 28 of this magazine in position No.4 based on net worth near $4 billion.

But then I read Mr Perron’s will instructing at least half the dividends from his businesses should go to charity for almost 80 years. We halved the family’s fortune and moved them down five spots.

This change was in line with the logic by which we exclude former governor Malcolm McCusker, who controls one of WA’s most valuable private land holdings but it is held in a charitable trust he set up with his late father, Sir James McCusker.

As the magazine went to press, I am wondering whether the Perron family should have been removed.

That’s a decision for next time.