Jayco’s famous Australian caravan founder, Gerry Ryan has been awarded the Officer of the Order of Australia (AO) in this year’s Australia Day Honours List.
The award is in recognition of his service to the community, tourism, hospitality and sports governance and business.
A man with many honours and achievements to his name, Mr Ryan is regarded as among the country’s most famous and generous businessmen, who turned his passion for sports into a lifelong support to sportsmen and women.
But before all this, he was a young boy in Bendigo who went on to study accounting before he took a job making caravans in his early twenties.
With a $10,000 loan, he began working on his caravan business in Springvale in 1976 and it’s been a success story since.
After 50 years, Jayco’s manufacturing facility has been based in Dandenong South and his estimated fortune is reported to be $745 million.
He has quite literally shaped the country’s sports industry including, track and road cycling and owner of WNBL basketball team Southside Melbourne Flyers. horse racing, rugby league and especially for championing women in sports.
With the funding secured by Mr Ryan, Kathy Watt became Australia’s first female cyclist gold medallist in the road race in 1992 Australian Olympic team for Barcelona Games.
Since then, he established Australia’s first professional cycling team including gold medallists Dean Woods and Scott McGrory.
He formed Jayco’s own team, to produce what would be world class cyclists by 1995, such as 2007 World number 1 Road Cyclist and 2011 Tour de France winner Cadel Evans, going on to produce the next generations of cyclists.
The Australian Olympic Committee awarded him with an Order of Merit in 2013 for his contribution.
He was also awarded the Medal of the Order of Australia for his services to the community, sporting and charitable organisations and to youth.
He was the first major sponsor of Dandenong Rangers in 1997 and later took over ownership of the club renamed as Southside Flyers.
