Michael Kent (businessman)

Michael John Kent , AOTY (1 April 1942 – 6 December 2018) was an Australian businessman, sports administrator, diplomat and politician, from Hobart, Tasmania. Kent was the Tasmanian recipient of the Australian of the Year in 2004, and also received the Member of the Order of Australia award in 1998. He was general manager of Purity Supermarkets (later Woolworths) and spearheaded the campaign to legalise seven day trading hours in Tasmania.

He was chairman of the Tasmanian Football League, and in 1994 led the first serious bid for a Tasmanian team in the Australian Football League. He owned various businesses throughout his life, however his latest ventures were The Gateway Cafe in Orford, Tasmania, and the Rusty Devil, a clothing and interiors business with stores formerly in Orford and Triabunna. A large rusty devil sculpture is still located outside the original store in Orford.

The Rusty Devil was operated in collaboration with now-Clarence City independent councillor, Wendy Kennedy. Kent also published his detailed autobiography, Open Slather, in 2015. Paul Lennon, former Premier of Tasmania issued a foreword in Kent's book in which he described his friendship and conduct with Kent regarding Lennon's role as a unionist and Kent's role as a supermarket executive.