Southern Cross Austereo's Stephen Kelly and Goodman Fielder's Andrew Hipperson die on same weekend

THE business community is mourning the deaths of Southern Cross Austereo's Stephen Kelly and Goodman Fielder's Andrew Hipperson.

Two Australian corporate bigwigs have died over the weekend, including Goodman Fielder, which makes iconic brand MeadowLea, M...

TWO corporate bigwigs, the finance boss of Southern Cross Austereo (SCA) Stephen Kelly and the managing director of Goodman Fielder Andrew Hipperson passed away in separate incidents over the weekend.

SCA chief financial officer Kelly died on Sunday. Two days earlier, the media company had released a statement to the ASX that Kelly would be taking indefinite sick leave to receive medical treatment. SCA announced this morning that Kelly had passed away.

SCA boss Rhys Holleran said: "We offer our deepest sympathies and condolences to the many friends that Steve had at Southern Cross and, more importantly, to his wife Alex, children Josh and Ben, and his many friends."

Food company Goodman Fielder, which owns brands such as MeadowLea, White Wings and Helga's, announced the head of its Australian operations, Hipperson, had died in a motorcycle accident on the NSW south coast near Nowra on Saturday.

Goodman Fielder chief executive Chris Delaney said Hipperson had overseen the Australian operations for just over two years. Hipperson was previously managing director of the company's Home Ingredients and Asia Pacific businesses.

"He was widely respected both within our company but also across our industry," Delaney said. "Andrew will be deeply missed by all of us. We offer our deepest condolences to his wife and family and the thoughts and prayers of the entire company are with them at this very distressing time."

Goodman Fielder's local operations will report directly to Delaney.

SCA's Holleran said immediate attention was being given to the functions of Kelly's role.

At noon, SCA's share price was down 0.67c or 4.13 per cent, to $1.56 while Goodman Fielder's was down 0.5c, or 0.73 per cent, to 67c.

###