A native of Czechoslovakia, Lowy is a Holocaust survivor who left Eastern Europe in 1946 to fight in the Jewish underground in what was Palestine, fighting Arabs during the day, he studied at night.
Immigrating to Australia in 1951, Lowy started out by delivering sandwiches for a Sydney deli. He made his first real estate profit subdividing a vacant lot.
By 1974 he had become Australia's dominant mall operator. With Australia conquered, he turned to the US. Lowy is betting he can change the shopping habits of consumers in America.