Heartbroken Aussie Home Loans boss James Symond reveals tragic death of beloved wife Amelia just two days before Christmas

Millionaire mortgage broker James Symond has shared a heartfelt tribute to his late wife and mother of their young daughter after she died just two days out from Christmas. 

The one-time Aussie Home Loans chief executive told friends he was overcome with grief in an emotional post headed ‘Amelia Beau Finlay Symond, Rest in Paradise 23 December 2024’ on a social media page for the company’s former staff.  

Mr Symond, who is the nephew of company founder ‘Aussie’ John Symond, confided he felt ‘terrified and broken’ after losing his 45-year-old wife Amelia but was determined to stay strong for the sake of their five-year-old girl, Stella Rose. 

‘I searched throughout my life for my darling wife,’ the retired broker wrote in the emotional tribute. 

‘The adoring mother of our five-year-old daughter, Stella Rose, and absolute love of my life. 

‘Little Stella and I are just devastated to lose you to heaven today. 

‘God only knows how I get through this but get through this for our beautiful daughter’s sake I must. 

‘Honey, I am what I am today because of you, my golden ray of sunshine. God speed and till we meet again my gorgeous girl.’

Mr Symond did not provide details about his late wife’s cause of death but has previously revealed the one-time actor had been battling stage four breast cancer. 

Her condition was pinpointed by doctors less than two years after Mr Symond received his own deadly cancer diagnosis and given just weeks to live. 

In his candid post, the 52-year-old said his ongoing health battle was so serious his family had always expected he would ‘be the first’ to go. 

‘Thank you God for loaning us all your angel and then giving me another named Stella Rose,’ Mr Symond said.  

‘Way too soon to leave us as I was to be the first. 

‘I’m terrified and broke and I just don’t break. 

‘You are simply everything to us and are missed more than words can ever say. 

‘We can’t stop crying. My heart is in pieces.’

Mr Symond, whose father Michael loaned brother John $10,000 to start Aussie Home Loans in February 1992, led the family-built mortgage broking firm as chief executive for six years before retiring at the end of 2021.

His shock resignation stunned the industry after he had been groomed for decades to replace his uncle, who had just retired from the company as chairman after almost 30 years at the helm of the business. 

However, it soon became apparent Mr Symond had greater concerns to deal with, and has since spoken candidly about his and his wife’s cancer battles. 

Appearing on fellow high-profile mortgage broker Mark Bouris’s podcast just four months ago, Mr Symond opened up about their devastating conditions and the difficulties they have faced together over the past seven years.

He said he had just had a pre-Christmas business meeting in December 2017 when he suddenly felt faint and needed to sit down on the footpath outside the Ivy on George St in Sydney to recover. 

Sensing something was wrong, he went to the doctor’s the next day where he was diagnosed with multiple myeloma, a cancer of the bone marrow.

‘I said, “What? What are you talking about? What do you you mean?”,’ he told Bouris during the podcast.

‘They said, “We’ve caught it early, we think, but you’ve got bone marrow cancer”, and within 24 hours, I’m sitting down with the oncologist and with the kidney specialist.

‘They’re telling myself and my fiancée that I might have six to ten weeks to live, and that’s it, and I need to get my affairs in order.’

After spending a sleepless night together fearing the worst, his physician told them all was not lost.  

‘The doctor said, “Look, good news. We think we’ve got a plan. And we think that this six to ten weeks, you know, might be six to ten years”,’ he said. 

‘So this was six years ago. Six and a half years ago… so I’ve been on a journey for six and a half years. You never get into full remission with multiple myeloma, I’ve been through hell and back.’

He said he has since undergone a bone marrow transfusion and stem cell transplant, and now requires daily dialysis for kidney disease and regular chemotherapy.

‘I had a bone marrow transfer, which is extraordinary,’ he said. 

‘They take bone marrow out of your body, spin it, clean it, put it back. But you spend two and a half weeks in St Vincent’s Hospital, in a sealed room in a sealed floor where no one can visit you because you’ll die. 

‘I don’t know how long I’m here for – five years? Twenty-five years? Certainly not 50, unless there’s a cure for multiple myeloma, so I’m just fitting in as much as I can.’

Just as he hoped he was getting on top of his cancer diagnosis, along came the devastating news his wife was fighting her own cancer battle too.  

‘Next thing I know, my wife’s actually very ill as well, so she has breast cancer, stage four breast cancer,’ he told Bouris. 

‘So you can imagine the hell we’re going through with that, and she’s had that for the last couple of years. 

‘And once again, we’re throwing everything at it. We’re trying to reinvent the rule book, but that’s been extraordinarily tough.

‘You know, the guy upstairs gives you a lot of presents and a lot of good things, you know, a lot of rainbows, and he also gives you a lot of bloody challenges. 

‘And so I’ve had my fair share of wins, and I’ve got my fair share of absolute challenges with myself and now with my wife. 

‘So thank goodness I’ve got a beautiful four-and-a-half-year-old daughter that keeps you absolutely focused, but it’s bloody tough. It’s real tough, you know.’

In a tragic update on his wife’s worsening condition, Mr Symond last Saturday intimated his wife was just days away from death. 

‘Merry Christmas… it’s a bloody tough one for my immediate family this time around as my wife remains very, very ill…days,’ he said in a post on the group social media page.

‘Cancer is simply terrible. Keep your loved ones close as tomorrow is promised to no one. Tough times. God Bless.’