At the inauguration of the School’s new building, Sir Frank Lowy shared the story of his late wife’s lifelong dream and how she finally achieved it.
When Sir Frank Lowy took the stage at Tel Aviv University on October 25, 2026, he recalled how his late wife, Mrs. Shirley Lowy, had earned a university degree in her mid-40s, fulfilling an ambition she had carried since childhood.
Growing up in Australia in a family of modest means, she dreamed of attending university but had to put that ambition aside. “She always regretted it in her life,” Sir Frank recalled.
Years later, with support from her family, Mrs. Shirley Lowy qualified for university and earned a degree in anthropology at around the age of 45.
“We were determined for her to achieve her aim,” Sir Frank said. On the day she brought her degree home, a red sports Mercedes was waiting in the garage, wrapped in red paper. “A bit of a show-off, maybe,” Sir Frank admitted. “I’ll never forget her look at that moment.”
“She was a wonderful wife, a wonderful mother, a wonderful sister, and a wonderful Jew,” he said. Shirley Lowy had also dreamed of moving to Israel since she was 14 or 15, but her parents would not let her go. When the Lowys eventually made Israel their home, that dream came true as well.
TAU President Prof. Ariel Porat and Sir Frank Lowy at the mezuzah installation ceremony at the new Lowy International School building. (Photo credit: Chen Galili)
For Sir Frank, the new building is a way of honoring both his late wife’s love of education and her connection to Israel. “It’s something she was dreaming about for herself. I am fulfilling her desire for higher learning,” he said.
“It will bring students from all over the world for them to learn about Israel. What is more important for us to do than that?” — Sir Frank Lowy
A Permanent Home for International Life at TAU
At the ceremony, Lowy International School Director Maureen Meyer-Adiri reaffirmed the School’s mission to “bring the world to Israel and Israel to the world.”
“After October 7, there were times when it felt as though nothing would ever be the same. Yet, even in the most difficult times, our commitment remained constant.” — Maureen Meyer-Adiri, Lowy International School Director
Designed by Potash Architects, the new two-story building houses an entrance lobby, meeting rooms and staff offices. Together with the School’s dedicated space in the Gilman Building, it will accommodate visiting professors, student activities, public lectures, workshops and gatherings.
The new home of the Lowy International School at Tel Aviv University, dedicated to the memory of Shirley Lowy. (Photo credit: Chen Galili)
Each year, the School welcomes hundreds of international students from dozens of countries, sends around 600 Israeli students abroad, hosts international researchers, and develops joint degrees, workshops and summer schools.
TAU President Prof. Ariel Porat recalled presenting Sir Frank with several options for commemorating Shirley Lowy. “You were convinced that if we could have asked Shirley, she would have chosen our international school,” Porat said. “Therefore, that became your choice as well.”
Porat also spoke about Sir Frank’s connection to Israel, from losing his father in the Holocaust and fighting in Israel’s War of Independence to building a successful business career in Australia, while continuing to support Israel.
Sir Frank Lowy and Prof. Ariel Porat holding the inauguration certificate and a presentation box containing a symbolic key to the new building. (Photo credit: Chen Galili)
“Your story is one of the rebirth of the Jewish people and the State of Israel,” Porat told him.
He thanked the Lowy family for helping Tel Aviv University strengthen ties between Israel and the wider world.
Making Connections When They Matter Most
Prof. Milette Shamir, Vice President for International Academic Affairs, opened her speech with a riddle: What do an Indian chemistry postdoc who turned down opportunities in Switzerland and France to pursue environmental research at TAU, a Canadian astrophysicist studying radio signals from space, and an Israeli student who found himself discussing politics and religion in Arabic with peers from the Middle East have in common?
They all found opportunities to connect with people and ideas through the Lowy International School.
“If I had to describe what the Lowy International School does in a single word, that word would be connections.” — Prof. Milette Shamir, TAU Vice President for International Academic Affairs
Lowy International School Director Maureen Meyer-Adiri (left) and TAU Vice President for International Academic Affairs Prof. Milette Shamir at the inauguration. (Photo credit: Chen Galili)
With Israeli universities facing growing calls for academic boycotts and pressure on international partnerships, Shamir argued for expanding academic cooperation: “Our response here at the International School is to build more and even more connections,” she said.
She cited a joint workshop with Munich academics exploring questions about artificial intelligence, and a theater project involving students from Tel Aviv and Cologne that developed into a traveling art exhibition in Israel and Germany.
Members of the Lowy International School team at the building inauguration ceremony. (Photo credit: Chen Galili)
For Shamir, the new building gives international initiatives something they have lacked until now: a physical home.
Where Students’ Futures Begin
Coby Felbel, 22, is an Australian new immigrant in the second year of the academic integration track of the BA in Management and Liberal Arts. This year, he began taking some of his courses in Hebrew alongside his English-language studies. Through the School, he has also made friends among Arab Israeli students whom he might otherwise never have met.
Coby compared the School to Sir Frank’s work uniting Australian soccer, once divided into clubs representing separate migrant communities:
“Buildings are buildings. A football is just a football. But the people you bring together through them can change the world around them.” — Coby Felbel, TAU international student
Australian student Coby Felbel speaking with Sir Frank Lowy. (Photo credit: Chen Galili)
Freya Pine came from Germany three years ago for the MSc in Neuroscience at the TAU’s Sagol School of Neuroscience.
“I came here to grow as a scientist, but looking back, these three years have given me far more than that.” — Freya Prein, TAU international graduate
Her research in the Prosocial Behavior Lab asked “why do we help others, and why are we often more willing to help those we see as our own?” She graduated with distinction. In less than a month she will marry in Israel, with a classmate from the program as her bridesmaid.
Of the School’s staff, she said: “I never felt alone, and I knew they truly cared about me, not only as a student, but as a person.”
Neuroscience graduate Freya Prein shares her TAU experiences at the inauguration ceremony. (Photo credit: Chen Galili)
Connecting her own experience directly to Shirley Lowy’s story, she addressed Sir Frank: “I want you to know that her dream has reached me, and it made this place my home away from home.”
The students who enter the building in the years ahead, Prein said, will arrive with their own ambitions, questions and plans. They will form friendships, face challenges, and build futures they cannot yet imagine. “Because of you, this is where those futures will begin.”
For Sir Frank, that continuation is central to the building’s purpose: “I’m very proud that our family became part of Tel Aviv University. Even before this donation, we were part of it.”
Sir Frank Lowy cuts the ribbon to inaugurate the new Lowy International School building, joined by TAU President Prof. Ariel Porat and members of the Lowy family. (Photo credit: Chen Galili)
Following the speeches, members of the Lowy family and university leadership unveiled the commemorative plaque, cut the ribbon and affixed a mezuzah to the new building, formally opening a home intended to carry Miss Shirley Lowy’s name, and her belief in education, into the lives of generations of students to come.