It didn’t take long to start – overly-generous eulogies are an
inevitable part of the passing of the extremely rich and powerful and there is
no shortage of voices happy to sing Kerry Packer’s praises and perhaps
ingratiate themselves with the inheritors of that wealth and power.

It’s not all rose-coloured glasses stuff though. Plenty is
known about Kerry Packer’s nature and some (certainly not all) of it has been
written. Yes, he was a bully and the bully culture that still thrives in his
empire is part of his legacy. His upbringing would now be termed dysfunctional.

And his much-lauded business acumen was far from perfect.
Packer was to radio’s Lamb family what Alan Bond was to Packer. Just as James
Packer jumped on the dot com/telco band wagon with everyone else in the latest
boom, Kerry Packer bought into coal at the height of an earlier bubble.

But perhaps the main question that will go unasked amidst
the justifiable tributes to his outstanding success in the media, especially
television and sports broadcasting, and his other very broad business interests
ranging from casinos to grazing, not to mention tax minimisation, his episodes
of generosity and philanthropy, and his achievement of being a better father
to his children than his father was to him, after all that and more, is this:
For all the billions and success, was he a happy man?

The answer from those who knew him much better than me or
the rest of the chattering class seems to be: no.