Driving force behind a campus
Of his rugby days he once said his coach told him to stand at the back of the scrum and give it a ‘‘bloody great heave’’ – which he did both on the field and throughout his career when the scrum became a metaphor for the many committees he was destined to chair.
Daughter Anna said farming was never an option for Norman and he decided to try the University of Canterbury, where he was president of the student association, graduated with a Master of Arts in history, and met his life partner Barbara Stephens.
He taught high school for a year in Wellington and then worked in vocational guidance for another year, while still active in student politics.
Elected to head the international office of the National Union of Students in Leiden, he and Barbara married, and worked in Holland for 30 months.
Unlike the vast majority of academics, Norman never entirely left his grassroots career in student politics.
He always supported the New Zealand University Students’ Association, was a life member of the Waikato Students’ Union and, well into his late 70s, publicly opposed the move to voluntary student union membership pushed through Parliament by ACT and National in 2011.
After Leiden, Norman worked as the deputy registrar at Victoria University before, excited by the possibilities inherent in a new university, he took up his position at Waikato University.
Norman and Barbara settled to family life in Chartwell, raising five children.
Anna recalled his ‘‘great capacity to maintain a (generally) calm demeanour’’ while his offspring ‘‘lurched along’’.
Fortunately for the university, Norman and foundation Vice-Chancellor, Don Llewellyn, formed a cohesive partnership both in developing the new campus and in forming an inclusive vision for the university. Norman’s role evolved beyond that of registrar to a key adviser.
As such, he was a strong advocate in ensuring the university recognise its responsibilities to Ma¯ ori in the region, and in widening access through continuing education, distance learning, and cooperation with other institutions.
Norman also developed a long association with polytechnics, and was a foundation council member of both Rotorua’s Waiariki Institute of Technology and the Bay of Plenty Polytechnic.
In 1999 his long involvement in Ma¯ ori education was recognised when he was appointed provost of Tainui’s Postgraduate College at Hopuhopu.
From 1978 to 1980 he took leave of the university after he was seconded to the Commonwealth Secretariat Fund for Technical Cooperation to establish the administration for the new University of Botswana. In addition, Norman was also tasked with working with the governments of Botswana and Swaziland to reach agreement on the long-term provision of tertiary education opportunities for each other’s students.
Anna said the move was a ‘‘lifechanging experience’’ for the Kingsbury children as they lived and were schooled in Botswana for that time.
Norman ‘‘retired’’ from Waikato University in 1988.
That same year he joined the Learning for Life reforms, staying with the initiative until 1990.
He was director of Tertiary Education Implementation at the Education Ministry from 1991 to 1993.
In 1999, while he was serving as chair of the Universities Academic Audit Unit and the Polytechnics Programmes Committee, the New Zealand Qualifications Authority appointed Norman chief executive. In 2000 the Government made him chair of its new Tertiary Education Advisory Commission.
The following year Norman was made a Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit. Somewhere along the way he was awarded two honorary degrees, sat on the board of the New Zealand Drama School (he had been heavily into theatre at Waimate High) and was influential in setting up NCEA and the Tertiary Education Commission (TEC).
Outside of work and family there were two institutions central to Norman’s life – although he had a rocky relationship with both over the years.
Before 1984 (when the Labour Party introduced the reforms commonly known as Rogernomics) Norman was an active party member – in election years there were always huge billboards on the front fence of the family’s Chartwell home, canvassing to do, Labour Party events, meetings, conferences, barbecues and, for a time every Saturday night, Norman would call out the numbers at the Labour Party housie nights.
The second institution was the church – in particular, St Alban’s. Norman and Barbara were heavily involved from the early days of St Alban’s, and were inspired by the ecumenical movement and the idea of co-operating parishes.
However, in the end, the institutional churches were too conservative on social issues and Norman went on his way.
But his greatest legacy remains the development of the Waikato University campus. ‘‘There aren’t many people who get the opportunity to start up a university, but I did,’’ he once told reporter Ann Graham.
‘‘It wasn’t the life I imagined I would have. I’ve been very lucky.’’
Norman was the husband of the late Barbara Anne; father and father-in-law of Benedict William Kingsbury and Vivian Lee, Anna Frances Kingsbury and John Robert Duncan, Jonathan Johnson Kingsbury, Lesley Holst, Vivienne Loloma Jeannette Kingsbury, Derek James Moana Kingsbury and Jackie Smith; and grandfather of eight.
Charles Riddle