Obituary: Socialite Lady Renouf dies on 74th birthday

Lady Renouf, born Susan Rossiter, has died in Melbourne on her 74th birthday from ovarian cancer.

She married New Zealand financier Sir Frank Renouf in 1985 during the sharemarket boom that made him one of New Zealand’s richest businessmen.

One tribute to her in Australia says they married under a crown of Elizabeth Taylor-style flowers and that they were “among the closest Australia had to royalty.”

It was Lady Renouf’s third marriage and ended in divorce three years later when she was given legal advice to bunker down in their multi-million-dollar matrimonial home in Point Piper, Sydney, living without some essential services.

She was the daughter of Sir John Rossiter, a Victorian Member of Parliament for Brighton in Melbourne, and was a fixture on the Australian social scene for most of her life.

In 1963, she married Liberal politician Andrew Peacock, who was appointed foreign affairs ministers in the Fraser government and went on to lead the Coalition in two election defeats.

First divorce
The Peacocks divorced in the late 1970s while he was still foreign minister and amid his widely-publicised affair with Hollywood actress Shirley Maclaine.

After leaving politics he was appointed Australia's ambassador to the US and has lived there ever since.

They had three daughters, including Ann Peacock, who is a prominent public relations adviser.

Lady Renouf went on to marry British racing and gambling tycoon Robert Sangster in 1978. They lived mainly in Europe and had a home on the Isle of Man.

He briefly left the marriage for American model Jerry Hall, who was once married to Mike Jagger and more recently tied the knot with media mogul Rupert Murdoch.

A highlight during Lady Renouf's marriage to Mr Sangster was his horse Beldale Ball winning the 1980 Melbourne Cup. But, eventually, that relationship ended in divorce, too.

The marriage to Sir Frank Renouf kept the couple firmly in the public limelight, even during their acrimonious separation. Sir Frank died in 1998.

Lady Renouf was diagnosed with cancer three years ago and typically used her illness to raise awareness of the disease, telling the ABC's Australian Story last year that she had cancerous tumours for two years before the problem was picked up in 2013.

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