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…
News of New Zealanders via Global Media
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…
Economics World Loses Star Thinker
John McMillan, the man who “could make Economics jump right off the page,” has died from cancer complications aged 56. Born in Christchurch, McMillan taught economics at America’s Stanford Graduate School of Business since 1999. “John in…
Tribute to Peter Munz
Historian, author and Victoria University of Wellington emeritus professor Peter Munz has died aged 85. Born in Chemnitz, Germany, Munz was part of the wave of mostly Jewish intellectuals who fled fascist…
Political Force Remembered
Auckland-born Leo McCarthy, a prominent figure in Californian state politics, has died of a kidney ailment aged 76. A lifelong Democrat, McCarthy was the state assembly speaker from 1974-80 and went on to serve…
A Great Mind Remembered
NZ Nobel laureate, Alan Graham MacDiarmid, has died in Philadelphia aged 79. Professor MacDiarmid won the 2000 Nobel Prize in chemistry for his joint discovery that some plastics could be made to…
A Life Behind the Lens
Filmmaker, writer and photographer John Patrick Feeney has died in Wellington aged 84. Born in Ngaruawahia and educated at Victoria University, Feeney served as a lieutenant in the Royal NZ Naval Reserve during World…
Former AB and Famous Father
Former All Black Brian Fitzpatrick has died aged 75. A sturdily built five eigths, Fitzpatrick was a strong runner and tackler. He made two tours with All Black sides in the early…
NZ Cricket Patriarch Remembered
Walter Hadlee, involved in NZ test cricket from the start has died in Christchurch aged 91. A productive and aggressive batsman, Hadlee played 11 Tests for NZ, eight of those as captain, and later served as national…
Lord Cooke of Thorndon: A Legal Great
Robin Brunskill Cooke, NZ’s most renowned jurist, has died aged 80. Educated at Wellington’s Victoria University and Caius College at Cambridge, Robin Cooke made his reputation early on with a high profile libel case…
Queen Mourned, King Crowned
The Maori Queen, Dame Te Atairangikaahu died on Tuesday 15 August aged 75 after a 40-year reign. Dame Te Atairangikaahu was the sixth monarch of the North Island tribes who formed the King movement…
History Maker Remembered
International archery associations and Olympic committees have paid tribute to Neroli Fairhall, who has died aged 61. Fairhall won a gold medal in archery for NZ at the 1982 Commonwealth Games in…
Brian Barratt-Boyes
Internationally acclaimed New Zealand pioneering heart surgeon Brian Barratt-Boyes has died aged 82. Educated at Wellington College and Otago University Medical School, Barratt-Boyes battled against bureaucracy for more funding and staff to do what…
Edge Connection for Leading Scientist
Pioneering archaeologist Lady Aileen Fox has died aged 98. Born and educated in England, Lady Fox held a visiting lectureship at Auckland University from 1972 to 1983. She conducted excavations at Tiromoana Pa (where…
Crash Claims Liquor Chiefs
NZ liquor innovator, Michael Erceg, was killed in early November when the helicopter he was piloting crashed south of Auckland. As the founder and managing director of Independent Liquor, Erceg was one of the country’s richest people. Grolsch…
End of an Era
NZ lost its last WW1 veteran with the death of Victor “Bob” Rudd aged 104. Born in London in 1901, Rudd served with the British Army’s 9th Lancers regiment in the final…
Battle of Britain Hero
Group Captain Edward Preston “Hawkeye” Wells, one of the RAF’s most outstanding WWII pilots has died at the age of 89. Born in Cambridge (NZ) on 26 July 1916 and educated at Cambridge High School, Wells was called…
A Life’s Work
NZ born education pioneer and author Dion “Darcy” Dale has died. Dale devoted his life to the teaching and studying of deaf and partially hearing children. He was particularly prominent in promoting the use of lip…
Lord of the Dance
Wellington born Kristian Fredrikson, one of the most celebrated theater and dance designers in New Zealand and Australia has died in a Sydney Hospital of complications from pneumonia at the age of 65. His career began in Wellington…
“Pragmatic Idealist, Friend of the Earth and a Good Man”
NZ has lost an inspiring political figure with the death of Green Party co-leader Rod Donald. Donald died of a rare virus affecting the heart aged just 48. He will be remembered for his…
Building Bridges on canvas
One of NZ’s most respected Maori artists and pioneer of indigenous art in schools, John Bevan Ford, has died aged 75 from cancer. While tremendously skilled in traditional Maori wood carving, Ford is best perhaps known…
David Lange 1942-2005
Former Prime Minister David Lange died on Saturday 13 August aged 63 after a long battle with ill health. He was regarded as “the best loved New Zealand political figure of the last 20 years” (Guardian Unlimited). Elected…
Visionary Remembered
NZ’s scientific and business community has lost one of its brightest stars with the death of Pulse Data founder Dr Russell Smith. Smith and his wife, early childhood specialist Marian D’Eve, were both killed when their Cessna…
Rugby Stalwart Farewelled
Former All Black captain, agricultural economist, and leading NZRU administrator – Bob Stuart, OBE – died in May aged 84. Although Stuart’s best playing years were taken up by military service during WW2, he successfully lead NZ…
Owen Wilkes: Global Peace Activist
Owen Wilkes, the New Zealand peace activist and global peace researcher, has died in Hamilton aged 65. In a tribute written from Beijing by Peter Hayes, he said “Owen Wilkes was a profoundly wedded…
Sir Joh Bows Out
Dannevirke-born and controversial seven-times Premier of Queensland Sir Joh Bjelke-Petersen has died aged 94. The maverick politician was one of the most colourful but also divisive leaders in Australian political history. He was religiously, socially and politically…
Black Mountain Poet
Robert Creeley, who helped transform postwar American poetry by making it more conversational and emotionally direct, has in Odessa, Texas. He was 78. Robert Creeley’s association with New Zealand dates from 1976 when he visited at…
A House Less Crowded
March 26 saw the tragic death by suicide of drummer Paul Hester, Melbourne-born member of seminal NZ bands Split Enz and Crowded House. “We all knew him as an effervescent, vivacious fireball of talent,” said soul singer Renee…
Science’s Conscience
John Ziman, NZ-born scientist and humanist, has died aged 79. “After a brilliant youthful career in physics research he turned increasingly to reflection on the values and societal entanglements of the scientific endeavour as a whole ……
Janet Frame An International Loss
Janet Frame featured in the New York Times as one of many international art world notables to die in 2004, together with Marlon Brando, Ray Charles, Richard Avedon, Julia Child and more. Frame died of cancer on…
Farewell to Snow
Legendary NZ trainer Snow Lupton has died aged 84. Lupton will be best remembered for saddling Kiwi to victory in the 1983 Melbourne Cup. ” an outstanding figure in NZ racing,” said Thoroughbred…
Lydiard’s Final Run
Arthur Lydiard, perhaps history’s premier distance-running coach and one of the first to promote fitness through jogging, has died aged 87, of a heart attack. He had been in the United States for a…
National Ikon
An Independent obituary for Pat Hanly calls him “the jester of modern NZ art … His images – exuberant, colourful, feisty and humorous – reflected the personality of their maker.” The subjects of Hanly’s…
LIFE Photographer
Born in Levin 1916, educated Auckland Grammar, George Silk became a combat photographer for Australian Ministry of Information, covering the battles at close hand in the Middle East, North Africa, Greece and New Guinea. He joined…
Legacy in Letters
Acclaimed author Maurice Shadbolt (72) also passed away this October. Shadbolt burst onto the international scene in 1959 with the publication of his short story collection, The New Zealanders, and is widely regarded as…
Edge Hero Remembered
The science world – and the Edge community – lost one of its brightest stars with the death of Maurice Wilkins on October 5. Born in NZ in 1916, Wilkins was awarded the Nobel…
Passing of a Pioneer
NZ’s first women’s Test cricket captain, Ruth Martin, died in Christchurch aged 90. Martin (then Ruth Symons) led NZ in their inaugural Test match, against England 1934-5. The Ruth Martin Cup is presented annually…
A Long Innings Remembered
Obituaries for Auckland-born British Conservative MP, Sir Trevor Skeet, appeared in both the Independent and Guardian. Independent: “Academia in Britain has been vastly enriched by the infusion of talent from NZ, of whom Ernest Rutherford is…
Custodian of the English Language
Eminent lexicographer Robert W Burchfield has died aged 81. The Wanganui-born scholar rose to fame as editor of the 4-volume Supplement to the Oxford English Dictionary. The massive undertaking took nearly 30 years to complete -…
Pioneer Storyteller
The death of ground-breaking NZ filmmaker Mike Walker was noted in the Scotsman, Miami Herald, and LA Times. Walker worked asa director, co-producer and co-writer on the films Kingi’s Story, Kingpin and…
He Maimai Aroha
Haere atu koutou hei whetu te rangi, tiaho mai mo ake tonu atu. He tohu aroha ki tenei morehu kuia. Rahera Windsor, spiritual leader of Britain’s Maori community, died May 3rd 2004 Born in Pupuke, 1925, she married…
“the Most Influential American Criminologist of His Time”
Pioneering criminologist and novelist, Norval Morris, has died in Chicago aged 80. Born in Auckland, Morris studied in Australia, France, and England before embarking on his 30-year academic career at the University of Chicago…
A Sporting Life
NZ-born BBC sports producer and director, Malcolm Kemp, has died aged 57 of cancer. Kemp’s illustrious career saw him executive produce seven Grand Nationals, the 1994 football World Cup and 1996 European Cup, and…
Giant Kauri Tragically Felled
NZ mourns the loss of its preeminent cultural historian, Michael King. The author of 34 books – including the groundbreaking autobiographical work Being Pakeha and acclaimed biographies of Dame Whina Cooper, Hone Tuwhare, and…
