OBITUARY | Robert “Otto” Albert AO, RFD, RD

The Australian maritime world has lost one of its great contributors with the death of Robert “Otto” Albert last week.

The scion of a wealthy established Sydney family, Otto, in addition to his strong connections with the sea and his business and investment acumen, was a leading but discreet philanthropist. He was a generous benefactor to the arts, education, sailing, and maritime history, and a practical promoter of the betterment of the Royal Australian Navy.

Even into his ninetieth year, this former commander in the RAN Reserve maintained a strong and active interest in the navy. For three decades, he was president of the Navy League of Australia’s New South Wales Branch and an active member of the League’s Federal Executive. Most importantly, he was a very strong intellectual and financial supporter of The Navy, the authoritative magazine of the NLA. Indeed, without Otto’s very generous financial support, the magazine would not have survived.

Among his more prominent maritime projects was his substantial support of the Sydney Heritage Fleet and, in particular, the restoration of the historic 150-year-old iron barque James Craig from what was pretty much a wreck. He was also an active competitor and committee member of the Royal Sydney Yacht Squadron.

His work with and contributions to the NLA were valuable and of very long standing. He was really one of its most important pillars. I met Otto many years ago through the NLA and joined his NSW Executive when we merged the NLA’s Federal Advisory Council with it to form what Otto called a naval “think tank”. That is what it effectively and quickly became. Led by Otto with his quick and cheeky wit, its meetings were interesting, inspiring, and fun, and attracted a crew of very and widely experienced thinkers and doers. They were a mixture of maritime business people, a naval architect and former naval ship builder, a master mariner, a senior academic, and several former naval officers. Its thoughtful, innovative, and practical intellectual output, much of it published in The Navy magazine, was highly regarded. It is sad that recent generations of RAN leadership failed to act on most of its recommendations. Had they done so, the RAN would undoubtedly be in much less of a mess than it is now.

Given his wide spread of interests and the numerous beneficiaries of his generosity of spirit and wit, Otto will be sadly missed by many and well beyond his own immediate family.