Postwar migrant who fled communist rule gave much to his adopted home

Milan Kantor was a ‘Renaissance man with a big heart’ who brought a touch of Bohemia to his life in Australia.

Milan Kantor in 1980 in the back garden at the family home in Kew, Melbourne.

Milan Kantor was “a Renaissance man with a big heart” — a learned lawyer with a doctorate in jurisprudence, pianist, linguist, artist, environmentalist and philanthropist who brought a touch of Bohemia to his life in Australia.

He came to Australia in 1949 to escape the postwar European turmoil that had shattered his family in what was then Czechoslovakia. When he died last week, aged 93, he was mourned in Melbourne and Prague.

Former Victorian governor Alex Chernov said in a ­eulogy: “Milan’s life touched countless people for the better and was reflec­tive of his warm personality, kindness and generosity, his intellec­tual prowess and his love of nature.”

Milan Kantor was born in ­Vienna, the second child of a Czech Jewish father and Serbian mother. His father, Artur, was a prominent member of the Czech community in Vienna who served as Sigmund Freud’s lawyer.

Milan’s childhood was one of genteel charm; a cycle of upper-class Viennese life built around private schooling, piano lessons, camping adventures in the surrounding mountains, skiing holidays and long walks around Vienna’s fabled Ringstrasse.

And then the Nazis arrived. Life changed dramatically for the Kantors and Artur decided it would be safer to move to Prague, declaring “the Nazis will never come to Prague”.

He was wrong. In 1938 Hitler took control of the Czech regions and began a reign of terror against Jews. Artur was sent to the notorious Theresienstadt ghetto (now Terezin), a transit camp for Jews designated for extermination. He survived thanks to the bravery and cunning of his daughter Ruza, who posed as a Red Cross nurse and smuggled herself into the centre to tend to her ailing ­father.

As a teenager, Milan, who never embraced the Jewish relig­ion, witnessed his cousins being forced on to a train that would take them to the death camps. Eighteen members of his extended family were sent to camps and only Artur survived.

After he learned that he was to be sent to a work camp, the teenage Milan conspired with friends to get drunk and have them break his leg. The plan failed, so Milan jumped from a fast-moving tram, shattering his right hand and wrist, thereby avoiding the work camp but also ending his dream of ­becoming a concert pianist.

Milan was active in the Czech resistance in 1944 while studying law at a Prague university and worked for an independent Czechoslovakia after the Russians “liberated” the nation in 1945.

After the communist coup d’etat of May 1948, Milan knew he had to leave. He managed to do so because, during his legal studies, he had uncovered a loophole in the law that allowed him to claim foreign nationality. Because his ­father had been born in Jicin, a town in the former kingdom of ­Bohemia, Milan convinced authorities he was legally a foreigner and should be allowed to leave.

The loophole was promptly closed but Milan crossed the border into Austria with $US28 sewn into the lining of his overcoat — a gift from his mother that he promptly lost to a pair of swindlers. His sister Ruza was unable to claim the same right to leave and was forced to ski across the mountainous border at night, eight months pregnant.

Milan arrived in Australia in October 1949, part of a great wave of central European migrants and refugees who were to settle in Melbourne, bringing old habits, new sophistication and a cultural richness to a city until then known for its pallid and insular outlook.

He immediately began Australian legal studies at the University of Melbourne while teaching ­English at the Bonegilla migrant camp near Albury during holidays.

It was here that he discovered the delights of the Australian bush, spending days traipsing along mountain trails, fishing for trout and camping among the giant eucalypts.

He took up painting, striving to capture the look and feel of the Australian bush. It was a hobby he pursued throughout his life, often painting en plein air and, with ­bohemian flair, tout nu.

In 1956 he married Anne, the second daughter of Sir Keith and Dame Elisabeth Murdoch. Milan first met his future mother-in-law at 3am at the Murdoch family ­retreat, Cruden Farm, when he was serenading his intended with a piano concerto, prompting Dame Elisabeth to come from her bed to investigate the noise. She was ­delighted, and Anne and Milan’s marriage lasted 62 years.

Milan did his articles with the noted legal firm Smith and ­Emmerton and quickly rose through the ranks to become a partner. He specialised in mercantile, company, banking and international law, where his mastery of five languages was invaluable.

He spoke fluent English, German, French, Latin and Czech — a skill that attracted major international clients. In 1984 he set up his own practice with clients ranging from multinational corporations to local members of the Czech community.

He was a linchpin of Czech expat life in Melbourne, har­bouring the aspirations of a free Czech society during the 1968 Prague Spring, so brutally put down by Russians in tanks. He and his friends celebrated in 1989 when Vaclav Havel led the Velvet Revolution that restored independence.

In 1991 Milan was appointed an honorary consul, later consul-­general, for the Czech Republic — a position he held until his death.

Music was always central to Milan’s life. He introduced Anne to chamber music, which he ­described as an “unbelievably ­intimate expression of music”, and together they became longstanding supporters of Musica Viva and the Melbourne Recital Centre.

He and Anne contributed $2 million to establish an endowment at the Recital Centre, which today supports a vibrant artistic program of concerts and artist ­development. Their philanthropy extends to support of many cultural, human rights, education and health causes.

The Kantor family enjoyed regular visits to their small farm near Taggerty, in the ranges northeast of Melbourne, where for 30 years they were neighbours to Chernov.

In his eulogy, Chernov recalled Milan’s outrage when he discovered a developer had lodged plans to built a cluster of 20 homes in the Cathedral ranges near their farms.

“Milan was incensed and ­funded a Supreme Court action, which failed,” he said. “So he promptly bought the block, registering its title with an encumbrance forbidding its subdivision, thus preserving it in perpetuity.”

The governments of the Czech Republic and Australia both honoured Milan. In 2002 his work promoting the ties with his homeland was recognised by the Czech foreign ministry, which presented him with the prestigious Jan Masaryk Gratias Agit Award. In 2007 Czech president ­Vaclav Klaus bestowed a first-­degree merit award on him. He was awarded a medal of the Order of Australia in 2004.

Friends of Milan gathered in Prague on the day of his ­funeral to celebrate his life. After gathering in a restaurant, they lit a bonfire in the snow, standing around it, talking, drinking and freezing until midnight, because “it is what Milan would have liked”.

He was cremated after a service on January 11.

Milan Kantor leaves his wife, Anne; his four children, Julie, Eve, Kate and Michael (two others, Martin and Tom, predeceased him); and 11 grandchildren, Hannah, Nina, Gracie, Charlie, Tom, Milan, Greta, Heath, Elisabeth, Louis and Stan.

Dr Milan Kantor, OAM. Lawyer, philanthropist. Born Vienna, February 25, 1925. Died Melbourne, January 6, aged 93.