“Hairdressing was her love and her livelihood,” Jackie said. “People came together and realized, ‘Hey, I can make a difference here. I can do something.”
Lillian Frank often told her daughters a story about her grandmother who had a locked room in her home in India to collect dowries for women who could not marry.
Lillian Frank with her husband Richard. Credit: Fairfax Media.
“His mother told him, ‘charity should be seen behind closed doors,'” Jackie said. “He got it from his mother.”
Fashion designer Alex Perry remembered Frank as “brilliant in real life” and a force in Melbourne fashion through the hairdressing and horse racing scene.
“She was one of those amazing people who was always completely energetic,” Perry said.
“[She was] a tireless charity fundraiser, and that is sometimes overshadowed by the sheer joy he had at the Melbourne Cup, where he would wear the most outrageous hats.”
Lillian Frank at the 1984 Melbourne Cup Credit: The Age,
Victorian Labor Minister Jaala Pulford said the community was in solidarity with Frank’s family.
“We extend our deepest condolences to them at what is a really difficult time,” Pulford said on Saturday. “We thank him for his … incredible presence, his incredible work in business and in the community.”
Frank wrote a gossip column for the Herald Sun for decades.
Frank is survived by husband Richard, daughters Jackie and Michelle and grandchildren Ella and Charlie.
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