Geoffrey Edelsten's ex-wife has posted a series of heartbreaking messages to her social media just hours after his death.
Edelsten, who died in Melbourne aged 78 on Friday, was a brilliant but disgraced medical entrepreneur and one of Australia's great self-publicists.
His heartbroken ex Gabi Grecko has since taken to Instagram to share her grief. She posted two paparazzi photos of herself alongside Edelsten, with one captioned 'This is how I feel today'.
In another post she chose the caption 'tired' to illustrate her grief.
It's understood the pair were only together for a few months prior to his death.
The photos showed a visibly downcast Grecko walking through the streets of Sydney with Edelsten, who is 46 years her senior.
His heartbroken wife Gabi Grecko has since taken to social media to share her grief. She posted two paparazzi photos of herself alongside Edelsten, with one captioned 'This is how I feel today'
Edelsten's last two years were believed to have been relatively quiet, increasingly spent as a recluse in the Balencea Apartments on St Kilda Road
Edelsten's last two years were believed to have been relatively quiet, increasingly spent as a recluse in the Balencea Apartments on St Kilda Road.
As his health faded, Edelsten had few visitors and is believed to have been found in his apartment by his cleaner. His death is not being treated as suspicious.
'The only people who would come to visit him last year were his brother, his close family and his carers,' a neighbour told the , also describing him as 'an old-school gentleman'.
Edelsten's decline was the sharpest of contrasts to his insatiable appetite for the spotlight over many years.
Australian businessman and one-time AFL owner Geoffrey Edelsten has died at the age of 78. Edelsten is pictured with his third wife Gabi Grecko
He claimed the most attention by the glamorous women he married.
Edelsten was married three times to beautiful, much younger women - to model Leanne Nesbitt in 1984; to American fitness instructor Brynne Edelsten (nee Gordon) in 2009; then to another model, Gabi Grecko, also American, in 2015.
The three women were respectively 20, 40 and 46 years younger than him and those marriages lasted three years, five years and four months.
Edelsten and his first wife Leanne on August 5, 1985 next to their Porsche after buying the Sydney Swans
Geoffrey Edelsten was a pioneering and ambitious medical entrepreneur who opened several clinics in the 1970s before eventually being deregistered in NSW and Victoria and going bankrupt
Brynne Edelsten married Geoffrey Edelsten in a $3million wedding in 2009. She was 27 at the time and he was 67
Geoffrey Edelsten was married to Brynne for five years between 2009 and 2014
Edelsten with Gabi Grecko. In 2014 Edelsten would marry the model, who was 46 years younger than him
Edelsten bought his first wife, Leanne Nesbitt, a sports car and a helicopter for her 21st birthday
His weakness for women was always matched by his extravagant lifestyle and the two things were often combined. He is said to have bought his first wife a sports car and a helicopter for her 21st birthday.
He rose to prominence as a medical entrepreneur in the 1970s, disappeared from view when he was sentenced to a year in jail and then spectacularly resurfaced with his marriage to Brynne Edelsten and a penchant for candy-coloured suits.
Edelsten was born in Carlton in Melbourne's inner-north in 1943, the son of Jewish immigrants Hymie and Esther, who owned a lingerie boutique.
He went to primary school in Carlton North and secondary school in Burwood before earning a double degree in medicine and surgery at the University of Melbourne.
The enterprising young trainee doctor spent any spare time he had managing Melbourne bands, writing music and trying to get an emerging record label, Hit Productions, off the ground.
Edelsten with Leanne Nesbitt on their wedding day. The pair split after a tumultuous three-year marriage
Edelsten pictured in a Sydney Swans file photo. He made his money pioneering revolutionary 24-hour medical centres offering bulk-billing, so that patients bore no financial cost
He worked at Royal Melbourne Hospital after graduation then as a GP in rural Victoria and New South Wales.
He gained a pilots licence and began to offer remote services before turning his attention to the expansion of medical practices in Sydney.
Starting with a practice at Coogee, Edelsten began opening revolutionary 24-hour medical centres offering bulk-billing, so that patients bore no financial cost for consultations.
His first clinic was reportedly seeing 2,000 patients each week within four months of opening. By the time he had 13 medical centres, about 20,000 people were coming through the doors every seven days.
His clinics attracted attention for interior decor not normally associated with medical practices. This included mink-covered examination tables, chandeliers and white grand pianos in the waiting rooms.
Dr Geoffrey Edelsten pictured in his surgery in September 1985. His first cutting-edge clinic was reportedly seeing 2,000 patients each week within four months
Edelsten bought the Sydney Swans AFL team in July 1985 for $2.9million, making him a household name.
A year later he tried to buy a controlling stake in the Cronulla Sharks rugby league team, but his offer was rejected.
Around that time, Edelsten's adventure with the Swans began to unravel.
'Success on the field was not translated to financial security, membership or a sustainable structure,' said an entry in the official history of the Swans.
Edelsten resigned as chairman after less than twelve months in the role and he sold his interest in 1988.
Edelsten was the first private owner of a major AFL team when he bought the Swans for $2.9million in 1985. Here's more on คาสิโนออนไลน์ visit our web-site. He is pictured in a cover photo for Good Weekend
The first captain of the Swans, Barry Round, heralded Edelsten's star power for helping put the team 'on the map' after their relocation from Melbourne in 1982.
'He created some important awareness with the Sydney people,' Round said.
'We were only getting our best players and goalkickers in one of the back pages of the Sydney Morning Herald, but with his flamboyant style he really turned it around for the club.'
Edelsten's involvement with Carlton Football C
