Family Confidential featured in TV previews Conrad Walters

Frank Lowy may be Australia's richest person (BRW names Lowy as having the country's thickest wallet; Forbes lips mining magnate Andrew Forrest) but for 40 years, the retail supremo kept a secret from his past. He was raised Jewish in Budapest and after Nazi troops invaded Hungary. Lowy's father, Hugo, went to the train station so the family could flee. Hugo Lowy never returned.

In an astonishing coincidence, the family learnt the fate of Hugo in 1970 at a hotel in southern California. The truth would see Frank Lowy reassess his views about his father from an unsuccessful man into a figure of deep principles. Such revelations of the vulnerabilities beneath Frank Lowy's tough exterior make a great story but they are slow to arrive. Others to be profiled in this new series include the Waterhouse, Mundine and Hemmes families.