Ngātata_Love

Ngātata Love

Ngātata Love

New Zealand academic and Māori leader


Sir Ralph Heberley Love GNZM QSO JP (7 September 1937 – 17 October 2018), known as Ngātata Love, was a New Zealand Waitangi Tribunal negotiator, academic and Māori leader.[1] Love was a Professor Emeritus of Business Development at Victoria University of Wellington's Victoria Management School.[2] In 2016 he was convicted of defrauding his own iwi, taking payments of $1.5 million.[3]

Love in 1998

Biography

Ralph Heberley Love was born in 1937, the son of the Te Ati Awa leader Sir Ralph Love, and his wife, Lady Flora.[1] He was educated at Wellington College and attended university part-time.[1] When his father was elected Mayor of Petone in 1965 he was likewise elected as a member of the Petone Borough Council at the same election.[4] Both he and his father were defeated at the 1968 elections.[5]

In the 2001 New Year Honours, Love was appointed a Companion of the Queen's Service Order for public services.[6] He was made a Principal Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit for services to Māori in the 2009 New Year Honours,[7] and later that year accepted re-designation as a Knight Grand Companion of the same order following the restoration of titular honours by the New Zealand government.[8][9]

At the same time Love stated that he is a supporter of a New Zealand republic and that "Even though I am an avowed republican, we must never abandon the history we share with Britain. Particularly at times of conflict."[10]

In March 2009, Love suggested that secondary students should have the option of going to wananga (Māori tertiary institutions) rather than staying at school.[11]

Three years later he stepped aside from a number of positions representing Māori and the Serious Fraud Office said it was investigating a matter in relation to the Wellington Tenths Trust.[12] In August 2016, Love went on trial, accused of defrauding his iwi. The Crown accused Love of taking two payments worth $1.5 million in late 2006 and early 2007. The payments were in exchange for showing favour toward Redwood Group, a property developer looking to develop Wellington Tenths Trust land near Parliament.[13] He was found guilty on 1 September 2016.[14] Love was subsequently sentenced to two and a half years imprisonment.[3]

He died at his home in Korokoro on 17 October 2018[15] and was privately cremated without a tangi.[16][17][18] At the time of his death, Love was being pursued for bankruptcy by the lawyers from his criminal trial.[19][20]

Notable students of Love include Takiora Ingram.[21]


References

  1. "Maori leader: honour reflects work of many". TVNZ. 31 December 2008. Retrieved 7 January 2009.
  2. Ngatata Love – School of Management – Victoria University of Wellington Archived 16 January 2010 at the Wayback Machine. Victoria.ac.nz, 23 August 2012; retrieved 28 April 2016.
  3. "Maoris and Chinese are Elected". The Evening Post. 11 October 1965. p. 21.
  4. "Petone". The Evening Post. 14 October 1968. p. 13.
  5. "New Year honours list 2001". Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet. 30 December 2000. Retrieved 17 August 2019.
  6. "New Year honours list 2009". Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet. 31 December 2008. Retrieved 14 April 2016.
  7. "Special honours list 1 August 2009". Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet. 1 August 2009. Retrieved 14 April 2016.
  8. "Grand day for Sir Ngatata". New Zealand Herald. 19 November 2009. Retrieved 27 August 2011.
  9. "Arise and awaken Sir Ngatata". The Dominion Post. 19 November 2009. Retrieved 27 August 2011.
  10. "Educator proposes radical approach for Maori students". Stuff. 11 March 2009. Retrieved 11 March 2009.
  11. SFO probes deals by Tenths Trust. Stuff.co.nz. Retrieved on 28 April 2016.
  12. "Māori leader Sir Ngātata Love dies". The New Zealand Herald. 23 October 2018.
  13. Ingram, Pamela Takiora (1990). Indigenous entrepreneurship and tourism development in the Cook Islands and Fiji (PhD thesis). Massey Research Online, Massey University.

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