Former banker's saving mission

Whale Rescue patron Philip Wollen made millions as a merchant banker - now he's giving it all away.

The former Citicorp boss's dramatic change in direction came after a visit to a client's slaughterhouse two decades ago. He founded the Kindness Trust and dedicates his life to animal rights causes, though he prefers the term "ending human wrongs".

Mr Wollen and his wife Trix now have more than 500 projects in 45 countries, including a chain of "kindness farms" in India for mistreated and injured animals, each employing about 100 people and feeding many more.

They are major supporters of Sea Shepherd, an organisation which pursues Japanese whaling ships.

"On my 40th birthday I decided to give away all the money I'd earned and die broke. I'm right on budget," Mr Wollen told a gathering in Opua for the launch of Whale Rescue on Saturday.

The Melbourne couple flew to the Bay of Islands for the event, where they were named the new group's patrons and pledged a US$10,000 ($12,200) donation.

Their connection with the the group came about through Northland orca expert Ingrid Visser's battle to save a young orca, Morgan, from captivity in Holland and now Spain.

Mr Wollen urged those at the launch to "do what you can, not only for the whales, but every living being on the planet".

He recalled his father's screams as his body was ravaged by cancer, and how he had heard the same screams in the slaughterhouse and when he witnessed a harpoon explode in a whale's brain.

"Their cries were the cries of my father. And I realised that when we suffer, we suffer as equals," he said.

Mr Wollen was named Australian of the Year (Victoria) in 2007.