EXCLUSIVE: Rene Rivkin's widow Gayle dies 18 years after her disgraced ... trends now
The widow of flamboyant Sydney stockbroker Rene Rivkin, who killed himself 18 years ago after serving jail time for insider trading, has suddenly died.
Gayle Rivkin stood by her husband during his high-profile fall from grace and leaves behind five children, two of whom followed their father into the family business.
Mrs Rivkin had campaigned for greater research into and understanding of brain tumours, from which her husband suffered, and was aged in her early 70s.
Eldest son Damien confirmed his mother's death to Daily Mail Australia on Friday afternoon.
'We are devastated at the loss of our mother Gayle Rivkin,' he said. 'She was a loving and devoted mother and grandmother.
'The family requests privacy at this time and will not be providing further statements.'
Gay e Rivkin, the widow of flamboyant Sydney stockbroker Rene Rivkin who killed himself 18 years ago after serving jail time for insider trading, has died. She is pictured in 2004
Rene Rivkin was the youngest-ever member of the Sydney Stock Exchange and in 1985 was named Business Review Weekly magazine's Stockbroker of the Year.
He gained nationwide fame beyond financial circles after establishing the Rivkin Report, a newsletter providing stock tips and other investment advice, and was often photographed chomping on a cigar.
Rivkin was a household name through the 1990s, making regular media appearances and mixing with leading political and business figures, before a spectacular downfall.
Fame did not bring out the best side of Rivkin, whose public lifestyle seemed to revolve around flash cars, fast boats and a coterie of hangers-on, many of them handsome young men and models.
'Some of his friendships in the '90s were completely different from his friendships in the '80s,' Gayle Rivkin once said. 'He discovered a bunch of playmates.'
Rivkin was first embroiled in a major controversy after a printing plant called Offset Alpine, of which Rivkin was chairman and chief investor, was destroyed by fire in 1993, resulting in a $53million insurance payout.
Rene Rivkin was a household name through the 1990s, making regular media appearances and mixing with leading political and business figures, before a spectacular downfall
Caroline Byrne, the model girlfriend of Rivkin's chauffeur Gordon Wood, was found dead at the bottom of The Gap in Sydney's eastern suburbs in June 1995.
Wood was found guilty of Byrne's murder in November 2008 and spent more than three years in prison before his conviction
