Top Kiwi sports administrator mourned
The squash world, including the great Jahangir Khan, is mourning New Zealand’s former World Squash president and longtime New Zealand Olympic Committee member Susie Simcock.
Simcock, from Auckland, has died after decades as one of New Zealand’s sport’s most influential female leaders.
She was the World Squash Federation’s (WSF) first – and so far only – female president from 1996 to 2002, later served as emeritus president for another six years, and was honoured by the International Olympic Committee and the Commonwealth Games Federation and was made an Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit in the 2019 Queen’s Birthday Honours list.
Squash New Zealand said in a Facebook page tribute that Simcock’s ‘‘infectious positivity and enduring support for squash will be sorely missed, and her life-long contributions to the game never forgotten’’.
Jahangir Khan, a sixtime world champion in the 1980s , credited Simcock with encouraging him to join the WSF board.
‘‘I have always admired Susie,’’ Khan said in a World Squash news release. ‘‘She was always very helpful to me and had boundless energy, in fact I often found it difficult to keep up with her.
‘‘She had a wonderful personality and lots of people learnt a lot from her. ‘‘It was Susie who persuaded me to join the WSF board, and I am delighted that she did. She was so passionate for all sport, and particularly squash. The respect she had around the world from other international federations was clear to see.’’
WSF chief executive Ted Wallbutton said Simcock was ‘‘equally at home in a local squash club, amongst the professional players or in the highpowered environment of the Olympic world’’.
World Squash extended its condolences to Simcock’s husband Jon, daughter Robyn and sons Andrew and Jeremy.