Terry Snow and his dog China, painted by Jude Rae for the National Portrait Gallery. Image: National Portrait Gallery.
Australia has few billionaires, and fewer still whose central cause in life is to help others.
Terry Snow, a third generation Canberran, a generous donor to those in need, and a quiet man who loved his horses and dogs, has died at the age of 80.
He leaves a remarkable legacy of business success and philanthropic generosity.
While the Snow fortune owes its heft to the canny decision to purchase a 99-year lease on the Canberra airport, the family’s business ties go back to 1926 when Terry’s grandfather established the capital’s first general store on the corner of Northbourne Avenue and London Circuit.
The family also owned a Queanbeyan hotel and Terry, who was born in 1943, spent his life in the ACT.
Educated at Canberra Grammar, he made headlines in recent years after a $20 million gift to the school enabled the construction of the Snow Concert Hall. It was the largest philanthropic donation to a school in Australian history and followed earlier gifts establishing the Snow Centre for Education in the Asian Century and the Terry Snow Scholarship for Global Studies.
After the family business was sold, he purchased the 99-year lease on the airport site in 1998. The Capital Airport Group, of which Terry was executive chair until May 2024, developed the airport and the Brindabella Business Park on land including the former air force base and Majura Park shopping centre.
A $250 million investment in airport redevelopment prompted initial criticism over whether it would diminish Canberra’s city centre, but met growing demand on one of the nation’s busiest commercial routes and enabled international flight capacity. The group’s total investment in the site is now over $2 billion.
Boardrooms in the airport complex were named for family dogs and when Mr Snow’s portrait was acquired by the National Portrait Gallery in 2017, artist Jude Rae included his blue heeler China – a familiar figure around the airport offices.
In 2017, Mr Snow became a billionaire and regular on the Financial Review‘s annual rich list, after land values increased significantly across the 400ha airport site.
Brindabella Business Park tenants now include major consultants and the Department of Home Affairs, while the Majura Park shopping centre attracted IKEA, Aldi and Costco. The 8 Brindabella Circuit building was the first in Australia to achieve a five-star environmental rating from the Green Building Council of Australia.
Snow’s Capital Property Group also developed Constitution Place, adjacent to the ACT Legislative Assembly and Denman Prospect, the first Australian suburb to have a minimum requirement for solar power generation on every home. The suburb donates 0.1 per cent of the sale price of all properties to projects that address the shortage of social and affordable housing in the ACT via the Homes for Homes charity.
The initiative springs from a long-held commitment to community building in Canberra, following the decision by Terry and George Snow to launch the Snow Foundation in 1991.
“We started it to make a difference in people’s lives in the community of our origins. George and I had a pretty straightforward view; if you see someone struggling you give them a helping hand,” Mr Snow said of the Foundation’s aims.
“Our grandfather E.R. Snow came to Canberra in 1926 … and the family has lived and worked hard to positively impact the community ever since.”
The Foundation’s priority was to provide grants for disadvantaged youth, people with disabilities, food programs, and schools in need and help individuals and organisations whose needs were not covered by government assistance.
In 2006, Terry’s daughter Georgina Byron became CEO and her siblings and their partners joined the Foundation Board.
By focussing on long-term partnerships and support, the Snow Foundation aims to catalyse major meaningful initiatives like HOME in Queanbeyan, Common Ground, Project Independence, and more recently Clare Holland House, and to establish evidence-based programs for social change.
In 2019, the Snow Medical Research Foundation launched, chaired by Tom Snow and designed to support the next generation of emerging Australian medical research including new treatment options for cancer.
The Snow Foundation and Snow Medical have distributed $115 million to date. Most donations have been made in the past five years, and there are future commitments of an additional $200 million. In April 2024, Terry Snow and Ginette Snow, were awarded the 2024 Leadership Award from Philanthropy Australia.
Willinga Park at Bawley Point, on the South Coast, an 800ha international standard equestrian facility with three Olympic-sized dressage arenas reflects Mr Snow’s passion for horses – the family also hold a string of Queensland cattle properties.
The equestrian centre has hosted multiple dressage and camp drafting events and has also become a venue for community events including Sculpture on the Clyde. It includes botanic gardens and extensive landscaping credited with helping prevent the Black Summer fires of 2019 – 20 from obliterating Bawley Point.
Mr Snow is survived by his wife Ginette and children Stephen – the Canberra Airport CEO, Georgina, Scarlett, Tom and their families. He leaves a legacy of exceptional business success and reinvestment in the place he always called “a great little city”.
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