Obituary – Sir Colin James Maiden ’47

Sir Colin James Maiden ’47 passed away on Wednesday 31 July, aged 91. Sir Colin attended Auckland Grammar School from 1947 to 1950 and was in the A stream throughout his four years at the School, playing Rugby and Tennis. He was in the Senior Tennis team and was the senior doubles champion in 1950. He finished second in 6A in 1950, earning the Tibbs Memorial Prize for Mathematics. Sir Colin then attended Auckland University College, studying a Bachelor and Master of Engineering.

In 1955, Sir Colin was awarded a Rhodes Scholarship, studying at Exeter College, Oxford for his doctorate, and he was awarded an Oxford Blue for Tennis during this time.

Sir Colin specialised in the field of hypervelocity flight and used his knowledge first at the Canadian Armament Research and Development Establishment in Quebec before moving to General Motors in 1961.

In 1971, Sir Colin was appointed Vice Chancellor of the University of Auckland, serving until 1994. At the time, he was the youngest Vice Chancellor in the University’s history.

Sir Colin was awarded the Queen Elizabeth II Silver Jubilee Medal in 1997 and Medal of the University of Bonn in 1983, and the Thomson Medal from the Royal Society of New Zealand for ‘organisation and support’ of Humanities and Sciences in New Zealand in 1986.

In 1990, Sir Colin was made an honorary fellow of Exeter College, Oxford and was named the Auckland Grammar School Old Boy of the Year in 1994. He was an Honorary Fellow of the Institution of Professional Engineers and a recipient of the Symons Award by the Association of Commonwealth Universities in 1999.

Sir Colin’s life of public service included serving on numerous government boards, including 10 years on the Board of Transpower and chairing the State Owned Enterprises board for seven years from 1997. Sir Colin also held directorships for many major New Zealand companies, including ANZ Banking Group, New Zealand Steel, and Fisher & Paykel Healthcare, among others.

He was appointed as a Knight Bachelor for services to education and business management in the 1992 New Years’ Honours. In 1994, he was granted an honorary Doctorate of Law degree by the University of Auckland.

The wider Auckland Grammar School community extends our sympathies to the Maiden family. The flag on the Main Block will fly at half-mast on Friday 2 August as a sign of respect for the life of Sir Colin James Maiden ’47.