Cyrus Lenox Simson Hewitt OBE BEc (1917 - 2020)

Born 7 May 1917 in St Kilda, Victoria, Australia

Ancestors

Husband of Alison Hope (Tillyard) Hewitt — married 1943 in Victoria, Australia

Died 28 Feb 2020 at age 102 in Edgecliff, New South Wales, Australia

Biography

Lenox Hewitt OBE BEc is Notable.

Lenox Hewitt OBE BEc was a centenarian, living to age 102.

Lenox Hewitt OBE BEc was born in Victoria, Australia

Cyrus Lenox Simson Hewitt was born on 7th May 1917 in St Kilda, Victoria, Austalia. He was the son of Cyrus Lenox Hewitt and Ella James. ^[1] He was educated at Scotch College, Hawthorn, before entering and graduating from the University of Melbourne with a Bachelor of Economics (BEc).

From 1939 to 1946, Lenox was Assistant Secretary to Sir Douglas Copland, who was Commonwealth Prices Commissioner and Special Economic Adviser to the Prime Minister.

Lenox married New South Wales-born (Alison) Hope Tillyard, daughter of entomologist and geologist Robert John Tillyard, in 1943 in Victoria. ^[2] Their subsequent children were Patricia, Antonia, Hilary and Andrew.

He joined the Department of Postwar Reconstruction in as an economist.

In 1950 Lenox was posted to London as Official Secretary and acting Deputy High Commissioner to the United Kingdom, remaining there until 1953.

On his return to Australia Lenox joined the Department of the Treasury, where a position of Assistant Secretary was specially created for him. He was First Assistant Secretary 1955-62 and Deputy Secretary 1962-66. He was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the Queen's Birthday Honours 1963 for 'service as Deputy Secretary of the Commonwealth Treasury'. ^[3]

In 1967 he was appointed to chair the Australian Universities Commission.

In the New Year Honours 1971 Lenox was created Knight Bachelor for 'service as Secretary of the Prime Minister's Department'. ^[4] His appointment to the head of the Prime Minister's Department in March 1968 was seen as controversial, John Gorton having been 'thrust' into his position following Harold Holt's disappearance and assumed death in December 1967. ^[5] When Gorton resigned as Prime Minister in March 1971, William McMahon restored the previous incumbent as head of the freshly-named Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet, and Lenox was appointed to newly-created Department of the Environment, Aborigines and the Arts as its inaugural Secretary.

Lenox was Secretary of the Department of Minerals and Energy during the Whitlam government (1972-75). In late 1975, Whitlam appointed Lenox as Chairman of Qantas on a five year term.

Lenox next chaired the Snowy Mountains Council and was a member of the Australian Atomic Energy Commission. In August 1985 he was appointed Chairman of the New South Wales State Rail Authority. He won the 1989 Tony Jannus Award for services to aviation. ^[6]

On 1st January 2001, then living in Red Hill, Canberra, Lenox was awarded the Centenary Medal for 'service to Australian society through public service leadership and business'. ^[7]

He remained publicly active well into old age, having outlived many of his contemporaries. He made written submissions to parliamentary enquiries and was sometimes called as a witness to share his experience.

Aged 102 years and having been widowed for eight years, Lenox passed away from – not being allowed simply to have died of old age – the effects of Lewy body dementia on 28th February 2020 in an aged-care facility in harbour-side Edgecliff, New South Wales. ^[8]

Sources

1. ↑ Victoria Birth Index #16057/1917
2. ↑ Victoria Marriage Index #5865/1943
3. ↑ Australian Honours: OBE; accessed 4 Nov 2023
4. ↑ Australian Honours: Knight Bachelor; accessed 4 Nov 2023
5. ↑ 'Gorton's Right Hand Man'. The Sydney Morning Herald, 17 Mar 1968; accessed 4 Nov 2023
6. ↑ Tony Jannus Award; accessed 4 Nov 2023
7. ↑ Australian Honours: Centenary Medal; accessed 4 Nov 2023
8. ↑ Australia and New Zealand, Find a Grave® Index, 1800s-Current [database on-line]. Lehi, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2012