Wira died at home yesterday after a long battle with a brain tumor. We go back a long way … 55 years. I first met Wira when we served together in John Brooke’s Battalion in Terendak, Malaysia, in 1967. Even then it was clear he was going places. Over the next 15 years we met on and off although we never again served together. We both retired from the military the same year … Wira to become the Director of Civil Defence while I opted for local government.

It was over the next forty years that Wira really made his mark on New Zealand. The first Director of the Waitangi Tribunal; as the Head of the Iwi Transition Agency; as the Head of the Ministry of Maori Development (Te Puna Kokori); Chairman of the Tertiary Education Commission; Chairman of Te Papa; a bid to become President of the National Party and a trouble shooter for both National and Labour governments, able to move effortlessly through changing political landscapes despite his strong National Party beliefs.

Wira and I met many times over those forty years … mostly in Koru lounges with him going one way and me the other. He was always optimistic, a thinker and a doer. What was best for New Zealand; what was best for Maoridom. I held him in the greatest respect. As for Wira, well he always called me by my middle name ‘Shepley’ if that means anything.

Wira was his own man. No tangihunga. A private service this afternoon followed by cremation. My sincere condolences to Lady Hekia and whanua. They have asked that anyone wishing to remember the life and works of Wira to make a donation to St John’s. Sez much.

RIP friend.