Ian Brusasco

His parents, Felice and Irma (nee Torre) emigrated to Australia in 1923 from the small, northern Italian village of Cuccaro Monferrato.

Once reunited, the couple married in Townsville in 1926.

Brusasco attended both Catholic and state primary schools in Ingham and Brisbane.

Ian Brusasco AO, AM (4 October 1928 – 13 May 2021) was an Australian businessman who served as chairman and director for WorkCover Queensland, Queensland Investment Corporation, Gladstone Ports Corporation, Foodbank Qld, Port of Brisbane Corporation, Australian Soccer Federation (now Football Federation Australia), Queensland Soccer Federation, Oceania Football Confederation, Brisbane Strikers, Radio Station 4TAB, Radio Station 4KQ, and Labor Holdings.

Brusasco also served as an alderman in the Brisbane City Council for 14 years.

Brusasco was born Italo Prospero Brusasco on 4 October 1928 in Lannercost, a small farming community near Ingham in north Queensland.

He was married to Patricia Anne Brusasco (born 11 May 1933) who received a Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM) in the Queen's Birthday Honours List in 1992 and a Centenary Medal in 2001, both in recognition of service to the community.

He did his secondary education at St Joseph's Nudgee College from 1943 to 1946, though he says it is still a mystery to him how he ended up there.

By his own admission, he was not a brilliant student and his parents could not afford to pay the fees.

His best guess is that the nuns at his Brisbane convent school either took pity on him, or saw a spark of something to be encouraged and recommended he attend.

At secondary school, he discovered a passion and talent for sport, playing in the Rugby First XV.

After studying medicine at the University of Queensland for two years, Brusasco switched to pharmacy at the Brisbane Technical College.

Brusasco first became involved in soccer in Australia in the 1950s at the request of his father, who at the time was president of Brisbane's Azzurri Football Club, later Brisbane City Football Club.

When the club suddenly found itself without a secretary, Brusasco says his father persuaded him to take the role, despite the fact that, at the time, he'd never even seen a game.

Despite his Italian heritage, he had been brought up on rugby union, during his time at St Joseph's Nudgee College.

He promised to help his father for 12 months, but once he got involved, Brusasco says he couldn't help but notice how much he felt was wrong with the club and the game at large, so he decided to remain active in the sport.

He qualified as a pharmacist in 1955 and opened his own pharmacy soon after in Brisbane's Albert St. He expanded and eventually owned several pharmacies in the Brisbane area with his wife Patricia Anne (nee Wilson), a fellow pharmacy student he married in 1956.

Brusasco spent many decades chairing and serving on a variety of boards, spanning the political, sporting, industrial and philanthropic life of Queensland and Australia.

He was the father of Mark Brusasco (born 24 August 1960) who played international soccer for Australia in 1980.

Brusasco officially joined the Ashgrove, Queensland branch of the ALP in 1960.

He led a revolution to sweep out the old administrators from the game, helping to introduce semi-professional soccer to Queensland in 1960 and creating a new governing body in the process.

This involvement led to him having a significant role on the national stage, within the Australian Soccer Federation (now Football Federation Australia) from 1960.

He became a dominant figure in the formation of the Queensland Soccer Federation and served as its President from 1961 to 1965 and again from 1981 to 1988.

He changed his name by deed poll to Ian in 1969.

Brusasco initially stood as a candidate for the ALP, unsuccessfully, in Kurilpa in the 1969 Queensland State election and later, unsuccessfully again, in Nundah in the 1972 state election.

Encouraged by former Brisbane Lord Mayor, Clem Jones, Brusasco stood and won for the party in the Brisbane City Council election in 1970.

He served for 14 years as an alderman, representing the wards of Toombul, Lutwyche and Spring Hill and serving as chairman of both the Health and Planning Committees.

In his maiden speech in the council chamber, he outlined why he felt it was important for a town like Brisbane to have proper, world-class sporting facilities.

Just a few months prior, Brusasco had returned from leading an Australian soccer team on a world tour and had been inspired by the synthetic running track he had seen in a small town in Greece.

In the early 1980s, Brusasco was invited into Queensland Labor's inner executive and was asked – again at the urging of Clem Jones – to assist with the Queensland ALP's financial management and in particular, the only asset they owned; a failing AM radio station called 4KQ.

Despite, knowing nothing about radio and with the station virtually bankrupt, Brusasco agreed to step in and run it.

After several music format changes, 4KQ eventually devoted itself to playing country music, making it to the top of the Brisbane radio ratings within 6 years.

He also advocated for Brisbane to bid for the Commonwealth Games, which the city eventually hosted in 1982.

The ALP eventually sold the station to Wesgo in 1986, at the height of the boom years, in what proved to be an extremely profitable deal.

Brusasco became chairman of a company called Labor Holdings, set up to invest money from the sale of 4KQ and designed to secure the financial future of the Australian Labor Party in Queensland, by providing it with a continuous source of income.

He remained in this position for 5 years, eventually resigning on 31 December 1992.

Ian's cousin Pier Giuseppe Brusasco was mayor of the village from 1999 until 2009.

As a young man, Brusasco's father, Felice, had been a political prisoner for opposing Mussolini and after completing his 2 year compulsory military service, it was quietly suggested he flee the country for his own safety.

Felice had wanted to follow the big migration of Italians to Argentina, but unable to get there, he instead boarded a ship for Sydney with the brother of his fiancee.

Irma was just 18 years old when she followed on her own soon after, travelling for several months by ship and knowing only a few words of English.