Riverview reminds old boys to dig deep, amid rumours of Ramsay millions

Sydney’s Riverview College has sent a letter to old boys spelling out financial details of billionaire Paul Ramsay’s bequest.

The late Paul Ramsay.

Prestigious Sydney private boys’ school Saint Ignatius’ College, Riverview has been forced to send out a letter to its old boys advising them that the college did not receive hundreds of millions of dollars from the late Australian businessman Paul Ramsay.

The letter from director of ­advancement Aleks Duric outlined the funding received from Ramsay — $2.1 million in his lifetime and a $1m bequest which supported the Riverview College Foundation Building Fund and the capital building program.

Mr Duric told The Australian there was an assumption in the school community that the college received a “far more substantial” figure when Ramsay died in 2014. “It was having in some respects a negative impact,” he said.

Mr Duric said he was aware of rumours placing the sum left to the school at between $100m and $500m and as a result of this ­assumed source of funding, ­donors stopped regular giving.

“It’s funny how these sorts of things take off,” he said.

He said the Jesuit school, the alma mater of former prime minister Tony Abbott and Deputy Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce, had thought about how to ­address the issue and chose to write the letter in consultation with the Paul Ramsay Foundation.

“It was all done in the spirit of recognising Paul’s generosity and correcting the amounts,” he said.

St Ignatius’ College Riverview is no as lush with cash as old boys may think.

Ramsay founded Ramsay Health Care, built regional television stations across Australia, which formed the Prime Television Network, and also established the Paul Ramsay Group, which encompassed a range of other business interests including media, property and agribusiness.

He left about $3 billion to the Paul Ramsay Foundation which funds projects across health, education and disadvantage.

Mr Duric said the school community had responded positively to the letter, sent late last month, with regular donors resuming philanthropic activity as well as new donors coming on board.

Paul Ramsay Foundation chief executive Simon Freeman said the foundation was contacted by Mr Duric. “It appears that there had been some sort of ­rumour doing the rounds of the community that Paul had left a vast sum of money to Riverview,” he said. “So because of that he (Mr Duric) was unable to raise money. That’s when they approached us to dispel rumours.”

During his lifetime, Ramsay’s donations were used for the Riverview Bursary Program and capital works, including a new boathouse and Ramsay Hall, both named after his Jesuit brother, Father John X Ramsay.

The foundation and the school said the timing of the letter had nothing to do with the debate over same-sex marriage.