Community leader who loved a deal
Businessman, educationalist, QSO
STAN Duncan (89) was a man who loved a deal, and he was making them right until the end — negotiating with a granddaughter for her to deliver a eulogy at his funeral.
Whether as a car dealer, an antique shop owner or an Air New Zealand director, Mr Duncan was devoted to ‘‘tyre kicking’’. The process was the same — the number of zeroes in the price tag was the only difference, he would say.
However, there was more to Mr Duncan than being a successful businessman, and the high school dropout made good devoted much of his spare time to educational causes.
Stanley William Basil Duncan, the first son of Shetland Islesborn carpenter Walter Duncan and Marjorie Duncan, was born in Dunedin on May 16, 1929.
Mr Duncan, the eldest of five children, started school at Port Chalmers Primary School — where he was strapped for the one and only time by Les Jack, a teacher who one day would become his fatherinlaw.
With his father having to move regularly to chase building contracts, Mr Duncan moved to Oamaru, before the family settled in South Rd, Caversham.
Mr Duncan spent three years at King’s High School before leaving to join the car firm with which a generation of Otago Daily Times readers would associate him: Gardner Motors.
While taking night classes at King Edward Technical School and then the University of Otago, Mr Duncan was working his way up in the company — from the parts department, to the sales yard, to general manager and ultimately, by 1970, the chairman of directors.
At its height, Gardner Motors had three lots in Dunedin and branches in Balclutha and Waikouaiti.
The firm’s prominence was driven by a weekly advertisement in the ODT, in which Mr Duncan and sales manager Gary McIver staged punladen conversations using the brand names of the cars for which they held dealerships.
Mr Duncan was himself the perhaps unwitting victim of a pun relating to his own initials — small of stature, SWB Duncan was regularly referred to as ‘‘short wheelbase’’.
His success in the car trade led to Mr Duncan becoming regional representative and later president of the NZ Motor Trade Association, an organisation he remained connected to as a trustee long after he left the business.
Away from the motor trade, Mr Duncan married Lesley Jack in 1950 at Port Chalmers, and was soon the father of two, Alan and Barbara.
The marriage ended in the mid1980s.
When the children entered Tainui School, so did dad, as a member of the school committee.
It was the beginning of a longterm association with education which led to Mr Turner serving on the High St School committee, and then 21 years as member or chairman of King Edward High School.
Other roles included membership of the Dunedin Teacher’s College council and the Otago Polytechnic council, and chairing the Dunedin
College of Education from 1990 to 2005.
Mr Duncan had strong views about society, and was not afraid to debate them.
A former divisional chairman of the Southern Region of the National Party, Mr Duncan was also president of both the OtagoSouthland and New Zealand Employers Federations: he holds the record for the longest term of service on the OtagoSouthland executive, from 1966 to 1992.
Mr Duncan was also part of New Zealand delegations to the World Trade Organisation.
His business prominence led to various directorships, most notably with Air New Zealand — a board he joined in the aftermath of the 1979 Erebus disaster — and Fulton Hogan.
In 2016, Mr Duncan was granted a rare honour, being named a distinguished fellow of the NZ Institute of Directors.
All that extracurricular work meant Mr Duncan had plenty to occupy his time after he sold Gardner Motors in 1986. However, the thirst for a deal did not desert him and, soon after, he and second wife Jeanette — nee Leckie; they married in Dunedin in 1989 — bought an antiques business in Princes St, in which several family members worked.
Family legend has it that Mr Duncan operated a reverse discounting policy at the store — an item which had sat on the shelves for too long would suddenly be advertised at a ‘‘new price’’ with an extra zero at the end.
Mr Duncan’s long years of voluntary work were recognised in 1991 when he was awarded the Queen’s Service Order for services to education and the community.
After his retirement, Mr Duncan maintained his busy schedule of voluntary work, but also found time for more leisurely activities such as a weekly Friday lunch at the University Club, where he struck up an acrossthepoliticaldivide friendship with former Labour cabinet minister Stan Rodger.
A man of his times, a stickler for manners and an occasionally foreboding presence, Mr Duncan was also dedicated, willing to lead as well as serve. He worked hard and played hard — in his younger days, he drove rally cars and raced speed boats.
Mr Duncan died on September 24.
His final deal was a successful one: granddaughter Karin spoke at his funeral, in Mosgiel on October 1.
Mr Duncan is survived by wife Jeanette, son Alan and daughter Barbara, and three stepchildren. — Mike Houlahan