Source: Radio New Zealand
Supplied/LDR – ODT/Stephen Jaquiery
Former Invercargill and Waitematā Mayor, Sir Tim Shadbolt, has died early this morning.
He was 78 years old.
Sir Tim, who was awarded the Knight Companion of New Zealand Order of Merit in the 2019 New Year’s Honours List, served eight terms as Invercargill Mayor between 1993 and 1995, and again between 1998 – 2022, and two terms as Waitematā (Auckland) Mayor, between 1983 and 1989, making him one of the longest-serving mayors in New Zealand.
“Today we lost the cornerstone of our family and the man who has devoted himself to
promoting the City of Invercargill for almost 30 years,” the mayor’s partner of many decades, Asha Dutt, said in a statement on behalf of the family.
“Tim was a kind-hearted man who cared deeply about the people around him. He was a champion for the underdog and an active political campaigner from his student days of anti-war protest, his activism for Māori rights, and his fight to keep the Southern Institute of Technology and Zero Fees
autonomous.
“Tim will be remembered with gratitude, respect, and affection for his commitment to the south and his passion for life. The citizens of Invercargill can be proud of the enormous legacy he leaves.”
Sir Tim’s family has requested privacy during this time and said funeral service details will be announced once confirmed.
Tim Shadbolt with a group of protesters outside the Auckland Town Hall in 1973 Te Ara / Public Domain
An iconic personality
Shadbolt, with his trademark cheesy grin, became one of New Zealand’s most readily identifiable personalities.
Born in Auckland in 1947, he attended Rutherford High and Auckland University.
He first came to national prominence in the 1960s as a student activist on issues like the Vietnam war and apartheid.
A talented public speaker and debater, he worked as a concrete contractor and was a member of the Auckland Regional Council.
In 1983, Shadbolt was elected mayor of Waitematā , and spent a colourful and at times controversial 6 years in the job.
In 1997, he sued Independent News for articles on the disappearance of the mayoral chain and robes 8 years earlier, and was awarded $50,000 in damages.
In 1992 he stood for mayor in Auckland, Waitakere and Dunedin, finishing third in each poll.
But the following year, Shadbolt was a mayor again, easily beating 13 rivals for the job in a byelection in Invercargill.
Otago Daily Times / Stephen Jaquiery
Voted out after only two years, he was re-elected in a landslide in 1998.
He lost his last bid for re-election in 2022.
He also showed an interest in national politics – he was the New Zealand First candidate for the Selwyn byelection in 1994, less than 24 hours after joining the party.
And in 1996, he was on the party list for the Aotearoa Legalise Cannabis Party.
Always prepared to make fun of himself, he appeared in a famous cheese ad featuring the line “I dont care where, as long as I’m Mayor”.
More to come.
– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand
