Kerry and his brother Clyde, elder by two years, received a privileged but strict education, first at Sydney's Cranbrook, then at Geelong Grammar in Victoria, the country's most prestigious boarding school.
Kerry's childhood was not entirely happy. He contracted polio as a child and spent nine months in an iron lung.
He was also dyslexic and a poor student, however excelled in sports, including boxing, cricket, Australian Rules football, tennis and later golf.
His father, who had been a New South Wales amateur boxing champion in his youth, often donned the gloves to teach the boys a lesson, and Kerry took a beating more than once.
He later described Sir Frank as "strict but magnificent".
After leaving school, Sir Frank, keen to educate his son in all facets of the newspaper business, put him to work at the Sydney Daily Telegraph.
However it was not Kerry that his father had in mind for succession: it was Clyde, who was appointed to run the Sydney operation of Australia's first television network, Channel Nine.
But in 1972 Clyde argued bitterly with his father over a veto of a long-planned television interview with Bob Hawke, then leader of the Australian Council of Trade Unions, later to become Australia's longest-serving Labour Prime Minister.
Clyde resigned and fled to the United States to live, opening the way for his younger brother to take control of the family business when Sir Frank died of pneumonia two years later.
Kerry flourished in the role, bringing an instinctive intelligence to television and a flair for deal-making.
He also had a florid turn of phrase, exhibited in 1976 when he tried to persuade the Australian Cricket Board to grant him exclusive rights to televise test matches in this country, and is said to have told them: "There is a little bit of the whore in all of us, gentlemen. What is your price?"
In 1983 he bought out the public shareholding in ACP for $95 million, and turned Consolidated Press Holdings into one of the country's largest private companies.
Meanwhile the Packer-directed emphasis on current affairs and sporting coverage had helped Channel Nine to become the dominant commercial network in Australia.
He sold Channel Nine to Perth millionaire Alan Bond for $1.05 billion, but bought it back three years later for $300 million less.
Thwarted in his attempt to gain the operating licence for Sydney Harbour Casino, he instead bought a major holding in Melbourne's Crown Casino, a reflection on his love of a punt.
Mr Packer was easily the biggest gambler in Australia, possibly in the world.
He never commented on the size of his bets, except to deny that he had once dropped the equivalent of $19 million in a single night at the roulette tables in London.
In October 1990, he suffered a massive heart attack while playing polo in Sydney. His heart stopped beating for several minutes and he hovered close to death for 24 hours.
A fortnight after the attack Packer underwent heart bypass surgery.
In 2000 he received a transplanted kidney donated by loyal employee and friend Nicholas Ross, his pilot for 20 years.
He valued loyalty above everything in business associates, and although he had a reputation for toughness his employees generally respected him.
He conducted his business and personal affairs with as much privacy as possible, and rarely gave interviews.
He was a discreet philanthropist, donating millions to charitable causes ranging from new hospital wings to helping out individuals who had fallen on hard times.
He is perhaps best known for giving $2.5 million to the NSW Ambulance Service following his 1990 heart attack.
He only survived because the first available ambulance happened to be one of a few equipped with a portable defibrillator, and he later wanted to ensure every single ambulance was fitted with one.