As one of the country’s richest businesspeople, Sir Michael Friedlander is one of a handful of people who have featured on the NBR Rich List every year since 1986.
His property investment company, Samson Corporation, was incorporated in 1946 and is now owned with sons Daniel and Jason.
The company’s leasing empire of office buildings, retail strips and industrial properties in Auckland’s heartland stretches from Ponsonby to Parnell and out to Te Atatu, with a wide range of tenants.
The family's extensive property interests include Friedlander's Remuera home which has a government valuation of $2.6 million, well below the value of the residential abodes of his sons. Daniel Friedlander's Remuera house is valued at $7.6m while his brother's in Westmere is valued at $6.8m.
Friedlander's Sterling Nominees holds a 2.31% stake in listed fishing company Sanford and the family also owns a 3500ha farm in the Waikato valued at more than $20m.
Friedlander was knighted in 2016 in the Queen’s Birthday Honours for his services to many local businesses and organisations and his philanthropic contribution through his Friedlander Foundation.
The foundation has been operating since the 1960s with the aim to reduce inequality and has primarily supported at-risk youth by partnering with Outward Bound, The Graeme Dingle Foundation and The Foundation for Youth Development, to name a few.
The foundation is also a big arts sponsor with beneficiaries including the Auckland Art Gallery, Royal NZ Ballet and individual artists through the Harriet Friedlander Residency Grant.
Daniel's wife, Jillian, is the creative director for the foundation. In 2011 she and her husband raised $65,000 in partnership with the Auckland Medical Research Foundation for more research into regenerative and stem cell medicine for children with severe conditions. The couple's own daughter Maia was the first New Zealander to benefit from a reinfusion of her own cord blood after suffering a brain injury at birth and the family wanted to see more research carried out in this area.
Friedlander is also a donor to family-focused charity Great Potentials, the Home Interaction Programme for Parents and Youngsters (Hippy programme), Youthtown, Foundation for Youth Development and research programmes for dyslexia.
2018: $1.85 billion