Bill and Imelda Roche

The couple met in a supermarket in 1956 and started in business selling lamps door-to-door.

In 1968 the couple bought the Australian franchise to Nutrimetics, starting with $6,000 of stock. In 1991, they acquired the worldwide interests of Nutrimetics International. The Nutrimetics Group was sold in 1997 to the Sara Lee Corporation. At the time of sale the company had a turnover of A$250 million a year.

Bill and Imelda Roche are now property developers and investors. They started their real estate investments with the purchase of a Sydney warehouse in the late 1950s. They now own residential land subdivisions, rural properties and office complexes.

Their wealth was estimated at A$545 million in the 2006 Rich 200 List of Australian business magazine Business Review Weekly. According to the magazine, Bill Roche left school at 13 and retains a zeal for hard work, having once compared work to "a prayer".

Imelda Roche was Acting Chancellor of Bond University from 5 August 1999 to 25 November 1999, and served as Chancellor from 25 November 1999 to 30 May 2003.[1] Imelda Roche was appointed an Officer of the Order of Australia for her distinguished service of a high degree to Australia or to humanity at large. She is now retired.

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  Imelda Roche life size bronze sculpture with her grandchildren as centrepiece of rose garden in Hunter Valley Gardens by Linda Klarfeld
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  Life-size bronze statue of William Roche outside Hunter Valley Gardens by sculptor Linda Klarfeld