in the role from 1996 until 2001. Gutnick replaced previous club president Ian Ridley. Gutnick held the role of president of the club until 18 December 2001, when he was ousted in a majority vote by the board of the club in the board election with 65 percent majority of the votes for Gabriel Szondy's “Team Vision” ticket in support for Gutnick to be ousted against 35 per cent with Gutnick's “Melbourne First” ticket in support for Gutnick to remain in the role as president. Gutnick was then replaced by Gabriel Szondy. Personal life Gutnick lives in Melbourne with his wife, a daughter of textile maker Max New, whom he married in 1974; they have 11 children. He studied for rabbinic ordination in Brooklyn, New York, and ran a religious girls' seminary in Melbourne. Gutnick is an Orthodox Jew, and a member of the Chabad-Lubavitch Hasidic movement. According to Gutnick, in 1988, Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson, known as the Rebbe, told him to mine for gold in Australia's desert. His brothers Mordechai Gutnick and Moshe Gutnick are prominent Orthodox rabbis in Australia. Philanthropy Gutnick has made significant donations to schools and Jewish organisations in Australia and worldwide. References 1952 births Living people Chabad-Lubavitch Hasidim Australian Orthodox Jews Melbourne Football Club presidents Australian mining entrepreneurs Joseph Ukrainian emigrants to Australia