Former Governor-General of New Zealand Paul Reeves dies aged 78

August 18, 2011

, the 78-year-old Anglican Archbishop who became the first and first cleric to be the  of New Zealand, died on Sunday in  after a battle with cancer. He is survived by his wife Beverley, Lady Reeves, three daughters and six grandchildren. His body has been lying in state in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Newton, Auckland. The state funeral, scheduled to occur on Thursday in the Cathedral of the Holy Trinity in (the first there since that of Sir Edmund Hillary in 2008), is expected to be attended by thousands of mourners.

Sir Paul Reeves was born in in 1932, and was educated at, ,  and.

He was appointed in 1971, then  in 1979, and then  in 1980. Other roles included Chairman of the Environmental Council from 1974 to 1976 and President of the National Council of Churches from 1984 to 1985.

He was appointed the fifteenth Governor-General of New Zealand in 1985 by despite doubts about his outspokenness and whether a cleric could serve as Governor-General. Since serving as Governor-General until 1990, he has held several other positions; he served on observer teams in South Africa and Ghana, a commission reviewing the Fiji constitution, and for three years was Anglican Observer to the United Nations. He was appointed to the Order of New Zealand, New Zealand’s highest honour, in 2007.