Graeme Avery
Sir Graeme Avery | |
|---|---|
.jpg) Avery in 2014 | |
| Born | Graeme Seton Avery 18 June 1941 |
| Occupation | Businessman |
Sir Graeme Seton Avery KNZM (born 18 June 1941)[1] is a New Zealand businessman and philanthropist. After training as a pharmacist, he founded medical publishing company Adis International in 1963, and it had an annual turnover of $100 million when he sold it to Wolters Kluwer in 1996.[1][2][3] The following year, he co-founded Sileni Wine Estates in Hawke's Bay.[2]
As a young man, Avery played first-grade rugby in Sydney, and was a 400-metre runner.[3] He was a co-founder (with Dave Norris) of the North Shore Bays Athletics Club in 1978 (later renamed to North Harbour Bays Athletics Club Inc. in 1997) and in 2002 he joined with Stephen Tindall and Auckland University of Technology (AUT) to establish the $30 million Millennium Institute of Sport and Health as an elite sports academy.[2][4] In 2009, Avery became chair of the AUT Millennium Ownership Trust.[2]
In 1990, Avery was awarded the New Zealand 1990 Commemoration Medal.[5] In the 2007 Queen's Birthday Honours, he was appointed an Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit, for services to business and sport,[6] and in the 2014 Queen's Birthday Honours he was promoted to Knight Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit, also for services to business and sport.[7]
Avery was named New Zealander of the Year in 2003 by Metro magazine, and in 2006 he was conferred an honorary doctorate by AUT.[4] In 2014, Avery was inducted into the New Zealand Business Hall of Fame.[1]
Nigel Avery, a former Olympian and chef de mission for the New Zealand Olympic team at the 2024 Summer Olympics, is his son.[8]
References
[edit]- ^ a b c Rawson, Emma (18 June 2014). "Future focus is great business". Stuff.co.nz. Retrieved 17 August 2019.
- ^ a b c d Downes, Siobhan (19 August 2014). "Sir Graeme Avery 'still the same'". The Dominion Post. Retrieved 16 August 2019.
- ^ a b "Sir Graeme sees healthy spinoffs". Hawke's Bay Today. 12 June 2016. Retrieved 16 August 2019.
- ^ a b Keall, Chris (2 June 2014). "Avery knighted for services to business, sport". National Business Review. Retrieved 16 August 2019.
- ^ Taylor, Alister; Coddington, Deborah (1994). Honoured by the Queen – New Zealand. Auckland: New Zealand Who's Who Aotearoa. p. 52. ISBN 0-908578-34-2.
- ^ "Queen's Birthday honours list 2007". Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet. 4 June 2007. Retrieved 16 August 2019.
- ^ "Queen's Birthday honours list 2014". Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet. 2 June 2014. Retrieved 16 August 2019.
- ^ "Medal winner says thanks a Millennium". National Library of New Zealand. 8 August 2002. Retrieved 31 July 2024.