The Besen Family

The Besen family’s wealth primarily originates from the retail and property sectors. The family patriarch, the late Marc Besen, was a Holocaust survivor who immigrated to Australia from his native Romania just after the Second World War. Marc Besen co-founded the Sussan Group, a successful women’s fashion retailer, which remains in the family, currently led by his daughter Naomi Milgrom. The group includes brands like Sussan, Sportsgirl, and Suzanne Grae.

The Sussan Group, like many large fashion retailers, has faced criticism in the past for unethical business practices such as the outsourcing of labour (although it should be noted that in recent years it has taken steps to improve its track record). In 2014 the Supreme Court of Queensland also found that Sussan had failed to comply with its own workplace policies after employees reported bullying and harassment, with the company ordered to pay more than $235,000 in damages to an employee who was bullied after returning to work from maternity leave.

Over the years, the family has diversified its interests into property, becoming major players in Australia’s commercial real estate market. They own significant commercial properties across Australia and residential real estate in the city of Melbourne.

In 1978 Marc Besen and his wife Eva established the Besen Family Foundation, a philanthropic organisation involved in health, education, and the arts. The Foundation is a partner of Zionist organisations such as the United Israel Appeal and the Zionist Federation of Australia, and has funded projects in Israel, particularly in the Negev region, having aided former Israeli Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion to “settle Israel’s Negev Desert”, with a plan to “bring hundreds of people to the region”. Israel’s developments and security initiatives in the Negev region have displaced thousands of Palestinians.

Mark Leibler, Senior Partner of the law firm Arnold Bloch Leibler and fellow Zionist, gave a eulogy for Marc Besen, saying: “As a true Zionist, Marc believed that the success and wellbeing of Jews throughout the world depended on the success and wellbeing of Israel. Having visited him in recent weeks, I can tell you that he was acutely aware of the current war and the abomination on October 7 that caused it, and that his primal love and support of Israel was as strong as ever.”

The philanthropic activities of the Besen Family Foundation make the Besens one of Australia’s most influential families, particularly in the arts. Marc and Eva Besen’s children, Naomi Milgrom, Carol Schwartz, Debbie Dadon and Daniel Besen, are all investors and philanthropists in their own right. The Besen Family Foundation founded the TarraWarra Museum of Art, which holds a collection of Australian artworks. Their financial support reaches almost every cultural and artistic organisation in the state of Victoria. In 2024, the Besen family’s Debbie Dadon resigned from the board of the Malthouse Theatre in Melbourne over a show that featured the activist Clementine Ford, who is known for her criticism of Israel. The Besen family are supporters of organisations such as the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, Victorian State Opera, the National Gallery of Victoria, and Musica Viva Australia, among others. Naomi Milgrom is the founder of the MPavilion project.