| Birth Name: | Rudie Sypkes |
| Birth Place: | Tasmania, Australia |
| Birth Date: | 20 May 1950 |
| Death Place: | Tasmania, Australia |
| Death Date: | 8 February 2008 (aged 57) |
| Occupation: | Retail entrepreneur |
| Known For: | founding retail chain Chickenfeed |
| Family: | Engel Sypkes (father) |
Rudie Sypkes (20 May 1950 – 8 February 2008) was an Australian businessman from Tasmania. Sypkes was the co-founder of the Chickenfeed retail chain.[1]
Sypkes was born in Tasmania to immigrant parents from the Netherlands.[1] He began his business career by helping his father, Engel, found the Purity supermarket chain.[1] Sypkes later founded, with his brother, Peter launched the Chickenfeed Bargain Stores, a chain of discount retail stores located throughout Tasmania. They sold the Chickenfeed chain in 2001 for an estimated $35 million Australian dollars.[1] Sypkes often quietly contributed to philanthropic causes throughout Tasmania using his personal fortune.[2]
Sypkes revealed in July 2007 that he had been diagnosed with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis and donated towards research into respiratory disease.[1] Sypkes died suddenly and unexpectedly at a hospital in Tasmania on 8 February 2008.[1] He had been on a waiting list for a lung transplant for nine months.[1] He was survived by his wife and three children.[1]