Loveable Dame
Dunedin-born actress Dame Pat Evison, who was best known for her Australian roles as Jessie Windom in Prisoner and Violet Carnegie in The Flying Doctors, has died aged 85. She also played Mrs Telford…
News of New Zealanders via Global Media
Widow’s Wish
Jan Arnold, the widow of legendary mountain guide Rob Hall, who was one of eight people to lose their lives on Mt Everest during a severe storm in 1996, has asked that his body…
Tributes Flow for Moth
New Zealand camerawomen Margaret Moth, renowned for her fearlessness and international career, died of cancer aged 59 on 21 March in the US. Starting her career in Dunedin, she was one New Zealandís first…
Space Man Saluted
New Zealand space scientist Sir Ian Axford, who worked on American and European space probes, such as the Voyager and Giotto designing robot craft and calculating orbits, has died at his home in Napier,…
One and Only
Pauly Fuemana, the man behind the 1995 hit single ‘How Bizarre’, has died, aged 40. Frontman of the band OMC (Otara Millionaires Club), Fuemana’s debut album How Bizarre and its breezy title track topped…
Revered Geochemist
Port Chalmers-born Smithsonian scientist Brian Harold Mason, who was internationally known for his study of meteorites and moon rocks and who was the first to discover that a rock found in Antarctica came from…
Travel Trailer Legacy
New Zealand-born entrepreneur Wade F. B. Thompson, who made his name reviving the American Airstream brand of travel trailers, has died at his Upper East Side home, aged 69. Raised in Wellington, Thompson dreamed…
Great Totara Falls
Beloved New Zealand entertainer Sir Howard Morrison has died aged 74. Morrison was born in 1935 into a Rotorua family renowned for its entertainment skills. He had a singing career for more than 50…
Poet Chief Farewelled
Pukerua Bay poet, playwright and author Alistair Te Ariki Campbell has died aged 84. One of the leading writers of New Zealand and the South Pacific, Campbell published more than 20 volumes of poetry…
Chopper Pilot Mourned
New Jersey-based pilot Aucklander Jeremy Clarke, 32, died after the tour helicopter he was flying crashed in a mid-air collision over the Hudson River. Clarke was a certified commercial helicopter pilot an flight instructor,…
Concept Muscle
Julian Dashper (1960-2009), artist, died 30 July, 49, in Auckland. Julian had “the unique perspective of attending to an internationalist art history from a distance, enabling him to devise strategies to work around his…
Lifetime of History
Dunedin historian Hew Mcleod, world-renowned for his work researching Sikh history, has died aged 77. McLeod first travelled to Punjab in 1958 as a Christian missionary. Soon after settling down in Batala, 40km from…
Charismatic Leader
Chief executive of New Zealand’s national museum, Te Papa, Dr Seddon Bennington, 61, died on July 15 tramping in the Tararua Ranges, a sight Dr Bennington admired from his office window, “frequently think of…
Lover of Words Passes
Respected literary scholar and Professor Terry Sturm, who played a leading role in placing New Zealand literature at the centre of the academic curriculum and was awarded a CBE in recognition of his services…
Goodbye on the Ganga
Auckland yoga instructor Karla Brodie bid farewell to her husband Mitchell Samuels on the Ganga River, Varanasi in what The Times of India described as a “poignant meeting of the East and…
Adieu to a Comedienne
Opera singer Heather Begg, a mezzo-soprano who last month was made a Dame Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit, has died in New South Wales, aged 76. Begg was the first person…
Sports Refugee Remembered
Wanganui-born journalist Jock Veitch who as a student at Wanganui Collegiate was regarded as a slacker and told there was nothing wrong with him that a game of rugger or cricket couldn’t fix, has…
Time Well Spent
Lieutenant-Colonel John Darwin Maling, awarded an MC on the North-West Frontier and a DSO in Burma has died at the age of 94 in Waikanae. Born in Timaru in 1915 and educated at Christ’s…
The Racing Reverend Rests
Legendary racing announcer Darren Tyquin died in a car crash in Christchurch recently, at 41. Tyquin had been calling races since he was fifteen, when he began covering greyhound and harness meetings for a…
Memorial at Shore’s Edge
Missing Warriors rugby league player Sonny Fai, 20, is remembered with wreaths and garlands at a memorial on Te Henga, Bethells Beach, in Auckland, a poignant image included in a Los Angeles Times photo…
Tough Guy Mourned
Auckland talent agent and former professional wrestler Robert Bruce has died, aged 65. The Scottish-born villain could enrage the crowd with a mere facial expression. Such were his talents and wrestling style, which saw…
Fondly Remembered
Sir Edmund Hillary is one of 45 individuals remembered in Time magazine’s 2008 ‘Fond Farewell’ tributes. “On May 29, 1953, Hillary, with the help of his Sherpa guide, became the first person to reach…
Goodbye to a Good Guy
Former All Black front rower John Drake has died at his home in Mt Maunganui aged 49. Drake was a tighthead prop in the World Cup-winning All Blacks team of 1987. In recent years…
Masterful to the End
Dunedin-born professional chess player and writer Robert Wade has died in London, aged 87, bringing to an end a career which famously included a draw with Bobby Fischer at the Havana tournament in 1965,…
Legendary Cricketer
Former test-cricketer and left-arm spinner Aucklander Hedley Howarth has died, aged 64. Howarth claimed 86 wickets in 30 tests for New Zealand between 1969 and 1974, retiring from test cricket in 1977. He was…
One Beloved Phantom
Much venerated entertainer Rob Guest, 58, who was awarded an OBE for his services to the New Zealand entertainment industry in 1994, has died in Melbourne. Guest had been starring in the musical Wicked….
The Final Lap
Celebrated Taranaki-born swimming coach Duncan Laing – who held a four-decade coaching tenure at Dunedin’s Moana Pools has died – aged 77. Laing is best known for coaching swimming star Danyon Loader to gold in the…
Father of Oceania
Soccer administrator Charles Dempsey, life member of both New Zealand football and world football body FIFA, has died, aged 86. Dempsey was instrumental in both the founding of the Oceania Football Confederation in 1964…
Pirate Captain
Thames-born actor Bruce Purchase, a founding member of Sir Laurence Olivier’s National Theatre, has died in Putney, aged 69. Purchase decided to become an actor at the age of five and upon…
The Highest of Achievers
Colin Murdoch, inventor, pharmacist and self-taught engineer, a man who designed something the world could not do without, has died in Timaru, aged 79. Murdoch led an extraordinary life; creator of the disposable syringe,…
From One Village to Another
New Zealand journalist Thomas Butson began his career in copy at New Zealand’s Truth, followed by positions at The Toronto Star and from 1968 at The New York Times. In 1992 Butson and his…
Anti-nuke Politician Remembered
New Zealand politician Fraser Colman, remembered for travelling to Mururoa Atoll in 1973 to draw attention to French nuclear testing in the Pacific has died, aged 83. Colman sailed on board the…
Sir Geoffrey’s TV Legacy
Celebrated New Zealand journalist and soldier Sir Geoffrey Cox has died in Britain, aged 97. As editor-in-chief of Britain’s ITN from 1956 to 1968, Sir Geoffrey built the foundations of 50 years of popular…
First Knight Memorialised
Sir Edmund Hillary was honoured by the Queen at a ceremony in St George’s Chapel, Windsor Castle. To a full congregation, Sarah, his daughter, read Allen Curnow’s elegiac poem You Will Know When You…
Right-hander’s Ultimate Innings
Walter Mervyn Wallace, one of New Zealand’s greatest batsmen has died, aged 91. As a young man Merv Wallace appeared such a prodigy that the New Zealand press did not scruple to make allusions to Don…
Ngati Filmmaker Remembered
Barry Barclay, New Zealand film director and the first Maori to direct a feature film has died, aged 63, in Rawene. Barclay’s Ngati won best film at Italy’s Taormina Film Festival in 1987 and…
Farewell to a Literary Legend
Hone Tuwhare, one of NZ’s most distinguished and best-loved writers, has died in Dunedin aged 86. Tuwhare was the first Maori poet to be published in English (No Ordinary Sun, 1964) and one…
The World Mourns Our Humble Colossus
Sir Edmund Hillary – adventurer, philanthropist and global icon – has died aged 88. The lanky beekeeper from Tuakau found international fame in 1953 as the first person to scale Mt Everest, together with…
The Great Escapee
The last living New Zealander involved in The Great Escape of World War II has died in Masterton aged 92. Mick Shand was an RAF fighter pilot who fought in the Battle…
Mighty Totara of NZ Rugby
All Black and NZ Maori legend Pat Walsh has died of cancer aged 71. Renowned for his versatility, Walsh played 13 Tests in four positions between 1955 and 1963. He served as…
Tributes Flow for China Expert
Leading Sinologist Professor Elisabeth “Lisa” Croll has died from cancer aged 63. Born in Reefton, on the South Island’s West Coast, Croll gained a BA and MA at Canterbury University before completing a second…
Queen of the South Pacific
Taumaranui-born soprano Rhonda Bryers has passed away aged 55 at her home in Hawaii. Bryers was one of NZ’s best known singers in the late 1980s, when she won the country’s Entertainer of the…
Film Industry Loses Behind-the-Scenes Star
Hundreds of mourners attended a tangi for NZ special effects expert Conway Wickliffe in Te Kuiti on October 14. Wickliffe, 41, was killed in England three weeks ago, during a stunt car…
Tributes Flow for Leading Philanthropist
Leading NZ philanthropist Sir Roy McKenzie has died aged 84. McKenzie spent most of his life managing the JR McKenzie Trust, which was founded by his father from the profits of the…
Tributes Flow for Industry Titans
NZ has lost two of its leading business figures with the deaths of Sir James Fletcher and Nick Nobilo (pictured) on August 29. Fletcher, 92, became Managing Director of construction dynasty Fletcher…
Humane and Humorous
Wellington-born character actor Gordon Gostelow has died aged 82. Raised in Sydney, Gostelow immigrated to the UK in 1950 to pursue acting professionally. The classic BBC serial became a staple of his career, and…
A Rebel Remembered
British political figure Anne Gilman, “a rebel from New Zealand”, has died aged 76. Gilman was born in NZ and attended Canterbury University, where she founded the student magazine, Canta. Gilman’s daughter, Catherine, describes…
First NZ Star of Silver Screen
NZ’s first movie star has died in a Rotorua hospital aged 101. Witarina Harris, of Ngati Whakaue descent, was chosen by Universal Pictures to star as Princess Miro in the 1928 silent…
Professional Outsider Remembered
World renowned mathematician and nuclear fusion sceptic Leslie Woods has died aged 84. Born in Reparoa, a tiny settlement between Rotorua and Taupo, Woods was the first student of Seddon Memorial Technical College to…
Kate Webb: War Correspondent
A New York Times article reminisces about Kate Webb, the NZ-born war correspondent who died of cancer in May 2007. Webb narrowly escaped death back in 1971, as a 28-year-old bureau chief for United…
A Life Lived Large
NZ-born war correspondent Kate Webb has died of cancer aged 64. Described as a “modern day Annie Oakley, packing pens instead of pistols”, Webb bore witness to some of the most important events in…
Brad McGann Was Acclaimed Director
NZ filmmaker Brad McGann has died aged 43 (cancer). His adaptation of the Maurice Gee novel In My Father’s Den won ten awards at the 2006 NZ Screen Awards, and the International Critics Award…
A Star Among Men
Frank Bateson, one of the world’s most respected astronomers, has died in Tauranga aged 97. Born in Wellington in 1909, Bateson was the internationally acknowledged expert on variable stars (those which intermittently vary in brightness)….
Icon and Storyteller Who Inspired All
Veteran actor and filmmaker Don Selwyn has died aged 71 after a long illness. Selwyn was a founding member of the New Zealand Maori Theatre Trust and He Taonga Films, and was…
Tributes Flow for Reading Expert
Educators the world over have mourned the loss of Dame Marie Clay, an internationally renowned reading expert who has died in Auckland aged 81. Clay was a leading figure in the International Reading Association…
Praise for Bright and Vital
Ferris South Australian Liberal Senator Jeannie Ferris has died after a two-year battle with ovarian cancer. Born in NZ, Ferris studied agribusiness and worked as a journalist and political adviser before entering Australian parliament…
