Vitamin king Marcus Blackmore donates $10m to uni for naturopathy

Marcus and Caroline Blackmore have made a $10 million donation to Southern Cross University for naturopathy research.

Marcus and Caroline Blackmore have made the single biggest donation to Southern Cross University in NSW. Picture: Kym Smith

Marcus Blackmore, a leading ­figure in Australian naturopathic medicine, and his wife, Caroline, have donated a record $10 million to Southern Cross University to establish a National Centre for Naturopathic Medicine.

As the largest single donation ever given to the university, the funds will boost research into the field of naturopathy.

Mr Blackmore, 73, is the son of the founder of the Blackmores Limited health supplements ­company — an ASX 200 firm with a market capitalisation of $2 billion, and he still owns a substantial slice of the company.

He said the inspiration for the donation to the university came from his late father, Maurice.

A naturopath who started the Blackmores company, which grew from a small dispensary in Queensland to become a leading brand in the field, Maurice often lamented the lack of recognition naturopathy had in Australia.

“On his deathbed, he said to me, ‘The sad thing about my life, son, was that I didn’t see naturopathy as a profession’, and he was the consummate professional, my father,” Mr Blackmore said.

“I think it’s a responsibility I have as his son to try and take that legacy of my father and do somethin­g with it”.

The immensely successful Blackmores firm was one thing, he said, “but we have to do more”.

Two years ago, Western Sydney University received $10m of the Blackmores’ largesse, half from the company and half from Mr and Mrs Blackmore over a five-year period.

Another $1.5m, from the Blackmore­s company Bioceuticals, was given to the University of Tech­nology, Sydney, for social researc­h into naturopathy.

“I suppose it’s trite to say that I’m a wealthier person than I was 25 years ago, and most of that is because of my particular interest and my father’s interest in naturopathy and natural medicine,” Mr Blackmore said.

“So this is a way to give back”.

He said Southern Cross University would offer a masters degre­e in naturopathy and probably, down the track, a doctorate.

Mr Blackmore said he expected there would be interesting naturopathic research advances coming from the university, althoug­h it might take some time for that to fully eventuate.

“It’s been well received by peopl­e within the university,” he said.

“A number of those people are from the osteopathic school and the health sciences area, so, yeah, I’m pretty excited about it, to be honest.”

The university’s vice-chan­cellor, Adam Shoemaker, said the donation would fund work on higher education in the field of naturopathic medicine, as well as research, and engagement with the profession. “We aim to establish an internationally recognised centre of excellence in naturopathic medicine education and associat­ed research,” Professor Shoemaker said.

“We are proud to be the first Australian university to offer higher-education qualifications in naturopathy,” he added, saying that the donation would enable Southern Cross to provide dis­tinctive career pathways and ongoin­g development for the professio­n.

Work on the new centre will begin immediately, with an opening planned for next year.

Mr Blackmore has had a long association with the university, ­receiving an honorary doctorate in 2006 and serving on the ­Southern Cross University Found­ation board.