‘Visionary’ former Tauranga Boys’ principal farewelled
Revenue, staff roll boosted
A passionate educator, a visionary and “a man ahead of his time” is how past colleagues have described a highly respected former principal at Tauranga Boys’ College.
A memorial service to celebrate the life of 96-year-old Norman David Morris will be held at St John’s Anglican Church in Bureta Rd from 2pm on March 13.
Morris was principal at Tauranga Boys’ College from 1971 until 1985 and he has left an indelible mark on the school and the wider community.
He died on January 2 at Russley Retirement Village in Christchurch.
Morris is survived by his second wife, Dinah, three of his children, Bronwen, Stuart and Graham, and their partners, his 17 grandchildren and 28 great-grandchildren.
Tauranga Boys’ College principal Robert Mangan said Morris had made a “very significant” contribution to the college and the wider community.
On behalf of the wider Tauranga Boys’ College community, Mangan said: “I’m in my 13th year as principal and I will always be indebted to Norm for appointing me to my first teaching position at the college in 1982.
“As the principal from 1971 until 1985, Norman led the college through the turbulent years of the 70s and early 80s.
“Among his many achievements, he pioneered a growing apprenticeship and night school programme, and played a major role in the establishment of the Bay of Plenty Polytechnic, now Toi Ohomai.”
Mangan said Morris was also a major contributor to the establishment of the whare wananga and a bilingual programme at the college now called Te Whanau a Aronui.
His former principal was always clear in terms of what the school needed to do ensure the boys received a holistic education that addressed their academic, sporting, cultural and spiritual needs, he said.
Even after his retirement Morris maintained a keen interest in the school and he was a life member of the college’s Old Boys’ association, Mangan said.
“Norm was a regular attendee at annual dinners and also attended the college’s 60th jubilee and played in the 9-hole golf tournament at age 93. Norman’s contribution to education and his legacy at the college lives on in many ways.”
This included one of the college’s key centres of learning being named The Norman Morris Library, he said.
Max Heimann. a former associate principal at the college, who worked closely with Morris during his tenure as principal, also paid tribute to him.
“Norm and I had a lot of mutual respect for each other and his contribution to the school and the wider community was outstanding and not always fully acknowledged.”
Heimann said along with Bill Bongard, former chairman of the college’s school board, Morris was the driving force behind the establishment of the Bay of Plenty Polytechnic.
Along with a lot of other ground-breaking initiatives at the college, he said.
“A real visionary, Norman made a huge difference to the lives of so many people not only at the college but also in the wider Tauranga community.”
Posted on the college’s Facebook page, Dee Patel wrote: “What a great visionary. His legacy will live with everyone who will gain the power of education through TBC.”
Graham Young, who took over as principal when Morris retired in 1985, said Morris was a devoted family man who believed strongly in family values.
“These core values were at the cornerstone of everything Norm did and underpinned how he led at the college during quite challenging years.”
Young said Morris was a man of “great vision, and arguably 20 years ahead of his time”.
Dunedin-born Morris was the second oldest of four sons and his only surviving brother, Peter, 85, lives in Tauranga.
His teaching career began at the end of 1945 as a sole-charge teacher at Strath Taieri District High
School in Central Otago. In 1946 he moved to Christchurch and taught physical education at Papanui Technical High School until 1957, and taught at Shirley Boys High School from 1957 to 1971.
He was promoted to deputy principal at the school in 1966 and in 1971 took on the challenging role as principal of Tauranga Boys’ College
Passionate about all sports, Morris still played golf at Tauranga Golf Club into his 90s.
He was also a life member of the Bay of Plenty/waikato Cancer Society and a Tauranga Rotary Club member from 1971 to 1998.
He and his first wife, Shirley, had been married for 60 years when she died in August 2007.
Daughter Bronwen Hart said her father’s enduring strength of character, his Christian faith and his strong family values underpinned everything he did in life.
“Our father was a man who always tried to instil the values he strongly believed in into the boys he taught and to his family — values of decency, caring for others, doing your best to become the best person who can be and doing no harm to others.”
Hart said she and her family were “very proud” of all her father’s achievements and the values he passed on to them, including his strong commitment to community service.
“Once a teacher, always a teacher, dad was a strict parent but he always had our best interests at heart, and family was very important to him . . . We miss him dearly,” she said.
Covid has been the catalyst for an award-winning Tauranga company to seize global opportunities that have seen its revenue grow 88 per cent, staff numbers double and allowed a major expansion.
Bluelab is no stranger to success but when Wuhan in China went into lockdown last year it forced the company into a make-orbreak situation, as the manufacturer of one of their critical components was in the epicentre of the pandemic.
Chief executive Greg Jarvis said rather than accepting defeat the company rallied, transformed and responded to a rapidly growing global market during significant supply chain challenges.
He said they were already poised to capitalise on the global focus on plant-based diets and concern about climate change with their suite of state-of-the-art monitoring and control equipment for hydroponic and commercial plant growers worldwide.
Faced with unprecedented disruption, Jarvis said the Bluelab team made a conscious decision to use the pandemic as a catalyst for change in every part of their business.
In June, Bluelab launched ‘‘our new purpose: the art of growing for a healthier world”.
“We turned to technology as our solution by significantly bolstering our digital offerings to help pull down the barriers to Controlled Environment Agriculture (CEA), making this sustainable growing method much more accessible,” said Jarvis.
Hydroponics and CEA allowed growers to grow more crops in less space without being dependent on weather conditions, he said.
Both climate change and the pandemic have increased the popularity of this production method because it also enables crops to be grown closer to markets with lower use of transport, water and pesticides.
Maintaining their workflow and their New Zealand-based manufacturing operations enabled Bluelab to expand rapidly to meet growing market demand. A recent refit of their premises in Tauranga at Tauriko Business Estate reflected that growth, he said.
“In 12 months, our New Zealand team has doubled in size from 54 in March 2020 to 112 today.
‘‘Revenue is up 88 per cent, we doubled our warehousing, found new supply chain partners and launched a new purpose, brand, e-commerce store, CRM and integrated software suite to power the business.”
The company has doubled the floor space of their office and adopted an open-plan layout to foster collaboration. It also built on a new warehouse space, doubling capacity.
While the refurbishment was initially driven by expansion, Jarvis notes that it has also been critical to staff wellbeing.
“Looking after our staff is the most important part of anything we do. Attracting and retaining top talent means we can help more customers find success in controlled environment agriculture so that we can all live in a healthier world.”
Priority One chief executive Nigel Tutt said Bluelab was a great local success story.
‘‘They are exactly the type of business that we need more of; with innovative and smart products backed by a great team — their success is a credit to Greg and Mandy Jarvis.”
Technology and innovationbased companies would be the future of the New Zealand economy, he said.
“Leaders like Bluelab help encourage others. We’re fortunate that Tauranga has a community of innovators and exporters that work well together and act as a team.”
Tauranga Chamber of Commerce chief executive Matt Cowley said the uncertainty of Covid had created infinite opportunities for emerging companies to make big plays.
“While big, publicly listed corporates have stock prices to worry about, companies like Bluelab can make big strategic moves and take customers from the bigger players.”
New Zealand’s isolation had always meant Kiwis had to be resourceful and innovative, he said.
Tauriko Business Estate director Bryce Donne said it was great to see a local business like Bluelab succeeding on an international scale through innovation and specialisation.
‘‘We wish them every success going forward. It is also great to hear they have taken on new people as well.”.