The fashion retailer-turned property tycoon died at the family's Vaucluse mansion, The Hermitage, after being bed-ridden for a year with multiple myeloma. He was 83.

"I will miss him terribly," said Hemmes' son, Merivale Group boss Justin Hemmes.

Mr Hemmes snr and his wife, Merivale, revolutionised Australian fashion retailing in the 1970s and 1980s when they set up the House of Merivale, with three boutiques in Sydney's Pitt Street, two in Melbourne and one in Canberra.

By 1996, the family had closed its last fashion store and had moved into the hospitality scene, snapping up inner-city buildings that could be transformed into swanky nightspots.

The Merivale Group operates a number of inner-city eateries and drinking spots, including the Ivy nightclub in George Street, El Loco in Surry Hills, Manly's popular Papi Chulo and Coogee Pavilion.

Family matriarch Merivale and the couple's children, Justin and Bettina, have invited all those who wish to pay their respects to the man known affectionately as "Mr John" to join them in the Ivy ballroom on Friday, March 6, between 4pm and 6pm.

In a statement on Monday, they asked for their privacy to be respected "at this very difficult time".

Mr Hemmes snr, whose father was a Dutch doctor, spent World War II and the majority of his childhood in a Japanese concentration camp. He then emigrated to New Zealand before meeting his future bride, an Australian milliner, on board a cruise ship. The pair married in 1954.

Sydney business figures paid tribute to Mr Hemmes and his Merivale group for changing the face of the city's night-time economy.

"There's no doubt that the vibrancy ... and appetite for innovation [Merivale] have brought into the CBD has been a good thing," said Glenn Byres, the NSW executive director of the Property Council of Australia.

"I think what they did very well was recognise that Sydney was becoming a globalised city and we needed to have entertainment options to match the changing demographic. Some of their buildings are how you find your way around the city. Everyone knows where they are, what they offer and some of their assets are landmark buildings in Sydney."

The NSW president of the Australian Hotels Association, Scott Leach, said it was a "terribly sad day for the industry".

"We have lost a true icon," Mr Leach said.

Sydney Business Chamber executive director Patricia Forsythe said Mr Hemmes and Merivale had made "a significant contribution to Sydney" and had "completely changed the night-time economy".

"Like good businesspeople, I think he was prepared to take a risk," Ms Forsythe said. "You've only got to look at that whole investment around the Ivy and the restaurants in that part of the city. Not everybody likes everything that happens in the night-time economy, but you can't ignore that without that level of investment Sydney's claim to be a global city would be somewhat weaker."

It has not been all smooth sailing for Merivale's business ventures. Justin Hemmes has done battle with Sydney City Council over opening hours and plans for the Ivy.

In 2008, John Hemmes told the Herald that the council "hadn't even looked at them [the plans for the nightclub] properly".

"The bastards tried to break him," Mr Hemmes said, and for a time the project seemed to be "dead in the water".

The family also had some personal battles played out in the public eye. In 2005, Mr Hemmes snr won an appeal in the New Zealand Supreme Court against a paternity action by a New Zealand woman.

He had been fighting since 1991 to avoid being declared the natural father of a man and his late twin sister who were born in 1953 in Wellington. The court found the children were legally those of the woman  and her husband, who adopted them in 1958

with Jenna Clarke