Morry Schwartz


Morris Zoltan "Morry" Schwartz, AM is an Australian property developer and publisher based in Melbourne. He is the owner of Black Inc., the publisher of the influential Quarterly Essay, The Monthly and The Saturday Paper.

Early life

Morry Schwartz was born in 1948 in Vámospércs, Hungary. His Jewish family soon moved to Israel, but after 10 years decided to move again to Australia to avoid military service. Schwartz started studying architecture at the University of Melbourne but dropped out during the second year to become a movie distributor for independent films.

Book and magazine publishing

In 1971, at the age of 23, Morry started Outback Press, publishing poetry and fiction.
In the 1980s he established Schwartz Publishing, mainly publishing American self-help books. Its all-time bestseller was Life's Little Instruction Book with 300,000 copies sold.
In the 1990s Schwartz Publishing set up the Black Inc imprint, publishing since 2001 the Quarterly Essay and, since 2005, The Monthly. On 1 March 2014 he launched The Saturday Paper,and in 2017 Australian Foreign Affairs, a journal discussing foreign policy.

Property development

In 1974 he moved into the construction and property development industry. His company first named Aardvark was later renamed Pan Urban.
Schwartz is currently the major stakeholder of Pan Urban. Its portfolio includes the St Falls, Silverski and Huski hotels in Falls Creek, Victoria, the Watergate towers in Docklands and the refurbishment of the Melbourne General Post Office. Several of these projects have been designed by his stepdaughter, architect Zahava Elenberg.
In 2009, he set up a real estate website, listing only houses for sale valued at over $1 million.