Ezekiel “Zeke” Solomon, HK 2017
Zeke has been a friend of the Kroks since around 2000 when he met them at the Harvard Club of Australia. Along with Ted Blamey, David Pumphrey, Charlene Bradley, and the Smith Family, Zeke got involved in hosting home stays in Sydney. Through his connections made in a long and successful legal career at Allen Arthur Robinson, he quickly began helping the group to get concerts at his law firm and elsewhere in both Sydney and Melbourne including fun places like The Basement. One particularly enjoyable concert was at the Tattersalls Club. Zeke also helped with a performance for the Governor General in Canberra / Sydney as well as in Boston for Australia Day! He and Ted Blamey, also an Honorary Krok, coordinate together on the concerts they are helping to secure in Sydney and the two of them coordinate with Barry Novy, an Honorary Krok in Melbourne, on any concerts they are planning there.
Zeke loves to have a good time. He often takes the guys out for drinks and meals as well as hosts concerts and throws parties at his home in Potts Point. These tend to lead to jam sessions with his varied collection of instruments – drums from Mexico, guitar, piano and even a digeridoo.
Eliah Seton, K03 and 04 recounts, The annual party at 102 Victoria St was always one of the great nights of the tour. Zeke would bring together friends, family, the Sydney glitterati in his fabulous home adorned with a gorgeous and varied art collection. Singing, dancing, carousing abounded into the wee small hours. And then the next day we’d do the Annual Pub Crawl, which Zeke anchored often as well.
He enjoys keeping in touch with alums that he has met and connecting with them throughout the world whether it is Northern California for a summer camping trip, Singapore for business, an inauguration in DC, a Bob Dylan concert in X, or in Cambridge for our major reunions. He has also been incredibly generous in supporting the group financially over the years.
To recognize all their hard work and support over the years, in July of 2017, the Kroks inducted Zeke, Ted and Barry into the ranks of Honorary Krokodiloes. Zeke complained heavily that he was required to sing our ancestral song, Johnny O’Connor, along with the Kroks while on stage at performance!
K17 inducting Zeke as an Honorary Krok
Biography:
Ezekiel (Zeke) Solomon
Zeke practices as a senior corporate counsel and trusted adviser to multinational corporations over a wide range of industries. He has extensive experience in international mergers and acquisitions, international business transactions, financial services, corporate commercial law and in the financing and development of major infrastructure, energy and resources projects.
Zeke has had long and close relationships with the United States, where he was resident partner in charge of Allens’ New York office for seven years, from 1986-1993. He has also had a long professional involvement with Asia, particularly with Japan, China and Indonesia, where he served for two years, based in Jakarta, as an adviser to the Indonesian Government. He has visited China professionally on many occasions since his participation in the first official Australian legal delegation to China in 1982.
He was appointed by the Australian Government in 2015 as a member of the governing Council of the National Gallery of Australia in Canberra. He is also a member of the board of the Gallery’s Foundation, and a Patron of the Australian World Orchestra. He is a former member of the board of directors of the Griffin Theatre Company of Sydney.
He was a founding member of the Boards of Directors of the American Australian Association in Australia and the United States Studies Centre at Sydney University, and is a former President of the Harvard Club of Australia. He has served as a director of the Australian Government’s Australia Indonesia Institute and on the Advisory Council of the China Studies Centre at Sydney University. He is a member of the Australia Indonesia Business Council and a contributing member of USINDO (US Indonesia Society) based in Washington. He is also a Foundation Governor of the Institute for Regional Security in Canberra.
Zeke has visited Israel frequently as a member/delegate of Australian business missions aiming to strengthen the Australia-Israel relationship in defense technology, innovation, research and other areas. He was a member of the Australian Strategic Policy Institute’s delegation in the Inaugural Bersheba Strategic Dialogue between Australia and Israel in 2015.
Zeke graduated with the degree of Bachelor of Laws (Honours) from Sydney University and Master of Laws from Harvard Law School, where he was a Fulbright scholar. He has served on various committees of the American Bar Association International Law Section and is a Life Fellow of the American Bar Foundation. He is an Adjunct Professor of Law at Sydney University and at the University of Technology, Sydney.
He was appointed a Member of the Order of Australia (AM) in 2010 for services to the law, to international business and to the arts.