The late Doug Moran and wife Greta laid the foundations with the Moran Health Care Group, which grew from one nursing home in 1956 into a $350 million empire with 120 facilities spanning the globe.

But while they laid the groundwork for the family’s continued success, their sons — particularly Mark and Shane — are carving out their own separate paths in the aged care industry.

Fifty years ago the industry was an extension of the acute hospital sector with a focus on key performance indicators and treating sick people rather than creating an engaging environment for the elderly.

How times have changed.

Shane will next month open Drayton House, a boutique residential aged care facility in Bellevue Hill followed by an even more intimate 12-suite offering at Darling House, an 1842 heritage-listed Georgian mansion at The Rocks.

Think open fireplaces, antiques, period lighting and Persian rugs.

Mark and wife Evette have pioneered a whole new model of seniors’ living through their $170 million “lifestyle village” — Mark Moran Vaucluse — where Greta now lives.

With robots teaching tai-chi, scented gardens, a luxury spa, state-of-the-art gyms and “paddock-to-plate” meals, the precinct represents a new generation of seniors’ care.

After he was heavily involved with running the Moran Health Care Group from 2001 to 2011, Mark said he and Evette had a “vision” to revolutionise the industry by creating a “wellness precinct” which “celebrates our elders” rather than shutting them away.

“It was easier for us to start a new concept rather than work within existing paradigms,” said Mark, the youngest of the seven Moran children.

“My parents were both innovators in their time, in particular in the ‘60s and ‘70s and now — 50 years later — Evette and I are being recognised as global innovators in aged care.”

While the couple have spent a lot of time and money creating their own brand, Mark acknowledges he would not be the businessman he is today without his parents’ influence.

“I’m proud to be their son and Evette and I appreciate that we have been exposed to real characters, real go-getters who achieved so much in their lives and that has been an inspiration to us.

“They were incredibly nurturing for my character and taught me to never give up, never lie down, always back yourself and go out and create something extraordinary.”

Doug Moran’s achievements are even more remarkable considering he spent much of his childhood living in a tent on the side of the road with his parents who struggled to find work.

At the few schools he attended, he was treated like a gypsy outcast.

A priest gave him his first pair of shoes when he was seven so he could attend the funeral of his brother Harry, who died of diphtheria.

He left school at 11 and at just 14 he ran away to sea where he remained for many years as part of the Australian and British Merchant Navy.

After World War II, during the construction of Warragamba Dam, he drove a rock buggy over a cliff, breaking multiple bones and losing the sight in his left eye.

He was nursed by Greta King, whom he married in 1954. They lived in Bellevue Hill — beginning the family’s long association with the eastern suburbs.

The family has ploughed millions into restoring Swifts at Darling Point, described by the Australian Heritage Council as “perhaps the grandest house remaining in Sydney”.

Shane Moran, who now has full ownership of the 54-room mansion, has taken the lead on its ongoing restoration.

“I feel both privileged and also that I have a very great responsibility to both maintain and enhance Swifts as such a unique Australian home,” Shane said.

He said he feels a “connection” to the property through his relative, Thomas Barker, who in 1833 bought the allotment on which the property was built.

Shane feels “privileged” to be Swifts’ fourth owner.

It was built by the Lucas-Tooth brewing family in the 1870s before it was purchased by another brewing dynasty, the Resch family, which bequeathed it to the Roman Catholic Church in 1963. The Morans bought it in 1997.

On September 25, Shane will unveil Drayton House at Bellevue Hill, a high-end, 65-bed aged care facility.

The $40 million-plus project will feature a cinema, hair salon, day spa and vertical garden. It comes off the back of the success of his nearby facility: Beresford Hall in Rose Bay.

Shane agrees the industry has evolved since the early days of the Moran Health Care Group, which he headed from 1987 to 2001.

“We have moved towards more personalised care, more recreational facilities and a higher standard of accommodation than what was (previously) required.”

Shane’s company Provectus Care also has facilities in Melbourne and the Gold Coast, with another planned for Canberra.

He has also taken his prestige aged care model to China, where he has facilities in Beijing and Wuxi, with another three or four in the planning stages.

Shane was among the first to see the huge growth potential in China, fuelled by a longer life expectancy, growing employment opportunities for women and the one-child policy.

“(That policy) led to an excess of males to females of about 30 million, which is bigger than the population of Australia,” he said.

That gender imbalance coupled with a ballooning workforce of females, who traditionally cared for the elderly, has created huge opportunities in the industry for a businessman like Shane, who did a PhD on the topic and can speak some Mandarin.

Peter Moran, the eldest son, now runs the Moran Health Care Group, which has two facilities in NSW — at Sylvania and Engadine — and one in Victoria at Roxburgh Park.

The group is opening a 150-bed aged care home on the University of Canberra’s Bruce campus in 2019 and an aged care home for 120 residents in Kellyville next year.

Peter is also the CEO of the Moran Arts Foundation.

The historic Juniper Hall at Paddington is home to the Foundation’s collection and the Moran Prizes exhibition incorporating the Doug Moran National Portrait Prize — Australia’s richest art competition.

The eldest of the Moran children, Kerry Jones, is an educationalist and has been the CEO of the Constitution Education Fund Australia for 16 years.

Barbara Moran has helped establish the Anglican Church’s new library at Moore College in Newtown, which will house historical treasures dating back to the early colony.

Linda Moran is happy in her private life.

The second youngest of the Moran children, Brendan, suicided in 1995, the beginning of a bitter and very public family feud.

The family is now focused on the future — Mark’s children Max, 17, and Saphira, 16, are heavily involved with Mark Moran Vaucluse.

Max helped oversee its construction and works there every Saturday while Saphira works in the precinct’s SOL Botanica Restaurant - led by executive chef Perry Hill of The Boathouse fame.

Each year they select the recipient of the Mark and Evette Moran Entrepreneurial Scholarship at Reddam House and they were the inspiration for the student section of the Moran Contemporary Photographic Prize.