Born entrepreneur, enthusiast and philanthropist
Ian Paterson is a revered name on the Malaghan Institute of Medical Research’s honours board. He raised several hundred thousand dollars towards research that included a cancer vaccine and a type of brain tumour.
As founder of the real estate firm Just Paterson, he donated a portion of every house sale to the institute. The financial contribution was only part of it, according to institute director Prof Graham Le Gros.
Paterson was a passionate advocate for the institute’s work, having lost his first wife Sally to brain disease, and was a member of its development committee.
That voluntary role was just one of many he took on. Rotary, Hospice Wairarapa, Pablos Art Studios, Child Cancer, Outward Bound, Wellington Free Ambulance, Wadestown School, Clyde Quay Kindergarten, Youth Quest, House of Grace, City Mission were among the many organisations and charities to benefit from his generosity and auctioneering skills.
He was recognised with a Queen’s Service Medal for services to philanthropy in 2016.
Ian was the third of four children born to Tom and Mary Paterson in Pukekohe. The Patersons were hugely engaged in the community, serving in everything from Rotary to racing, Plunket to kindy and women’s institute.
Tom was a livestock auctioneer and stock agent. Their example set Ian’s course in life.
After secondary schooling at King’s College in Auckland, his first job was as a junior stock agent in Whanganui and then a farm cadet in Taihape.
He decided he needed to know a little more about agriculture and completed a diploma at Lincoln College.
After a detour to a farm in Ashburton he went back to Taihape, employed as a stock agent by Murray Roberts & Co, where he was handed the book at a lamb fair and told ‘‘sell them’’.
‘‘A two-second warning and in front of about 1000 farmers and fellow stock agents and auctioneers,’’ Ian said. ‘‘Talk about the deep end.’’
But he was born to sell, and an entrepreneurial streak emerged.
He talked a mate, Glenn Dickie, into buying a fish’n’chip shop in Taihape – Triangle Takeaways. They opened at Easter weekend and did such a roaring trade with travellers though the town that they took the cash home in a bag, threw the money in the air and drank enthusiastically to their good fortune.
A restaurant – The Eating Post – and Nurseryland, selling children’s toys and baby clothes, followed.
Christmas trees also looked a good bet. The pair went up to National Park after dark, cut down numerous small trees and set up a stall in the main street.
But they attracted the attention of the local constabulary. ‘‘Patto and Dickie, I assume you’ve got a hawker’s licence for that,’’ they were asked. ‘‘We’ll see you at the club at seven. Our shout,’’ was the response.
The matter was not mentioned again. The pair got a hard lesson in business management in their next venture. Watching mothers lug around heavy toddlers at the local market, they bought 10 pushchairs and offered them for hire.
Business was brisk, the entire fleet was snapped up within an hour – never to be seen again. Not one was returned.
When the long hours palled, Ian and wife Sally and young daughters Kate and Marcia – Jaydene was born later – did their OE, travelling around Europe for six months with another couple and their two children in a Kombi van and tent.
He set up Mr Coffee, a cafe with art for sale, on return to Taihape.
Ian’s energy extended to sport. He became president of the squash club, where he regularly played and drove the building of a second court.
He was also a keen runner and took on marathons, with a best time of three hours, 33 minutes at Rotorua. In Wellington he would run from his then house in Karori to the airport and around the bays, stashing water bottles along the route the day before.
He moved south to join Fletcher Challenge but, when he was made redundant, resolved that the only one who would ever do that to him again would be a bank manager.
In 1989 Ted Jewett, a fast-talking Canadian, and Ian and Sally launched their own real estate business in Wellington – Jewett Paterson.
After an amicable split, Just Paterson was born. Ian and Sally ran the business and brought daughters Kate and Marcia on board.
‘‘Everyone was a helluva nice guy’’ in dad’s world, daughter Jaydene said.
When the firm sold a $2 million house, unheard of at the time, Sally retrieved a cork from the celebratory Veuve Cliquot and had it dipped in silver, with the
address attached. Their biggest day was in 1994, when Ian auctioned 33 houses in Newtown on behalf of the Wellington Hospital Board, all sold within two hours and all above reserve.
The sisters still work for Just Paterson, which is now owned by Charles Morley-Hall, who continues to support the Malaghan.
Ian joined the Port Nicholson Rotary Club shortly after its founding in 1989, served as president and was accorded the high honour of a Paul Harris Fellowship with a ruby pin.
He mourned Sally but he was lonely and struck up a friendship with fellow Rotarian Jane Mitchell, who some years before had lost her husband Nigel, known as Joe, a trade negotiator for the Dairy Board.
The pair were delighted to have met each other later in life and were married at an outdoor ceremony at Boomrock on a stunning January day in 2015.
Ian’s brother John, an archbishop and former bishop of Auckland, was the celebrant. ‘‘This is my famous brother,’’ Ian would introduce him as. To each other, they were Herb.
Ian and Jane shared a passion for golf and travel, combining the two.
His philosophy was attractive too – ‘‘don’t overchill your chardonnay’’ and ‘‘always have a holiday booked’’.
They also became racehorse owners, holding shares in about 10 thoroughbreds through the Go Racing syndicate.
He was an enthusiastic punter and took a quaddie (four winners) with a fellow owner every week. To their mutual surprise, they were regular winners and ended well in front.
As well as the thrill of winning (not all the horses were slow), he enjoyed the camaraderie and eternal optimism of the racecourse.
Ian was the ideal owner, always cheerful, whereas some others would carp when their promised champion was relegated to the Struggler’s Maiden at Gore.
When he became ill with prostate cancer, he was typically upbeat. ‘‘I’ve joined the prostate club,’’ he said. ‘‘There are lots of options.’’
But after a tough battle his race was run and he died in Wellington Hospital on July 31, aged 72.
His sendoff at the Wellington Cathedral of St Paul, where Rotarians formed an honour guard, was packed.
‘‘This is a bit tough, Herb,’’ Archbishop John said as officiant at his little brother’s funeral. ‘‘You should still be with us.’’
Amen. –
His philosophy was attractive too – ‘‘don’t overchill your chardonnay’’ and ‘‘always have a holiday booked’’.