Outstanding businessman held family, city dear
GRAEME James Marsh led a remarkable life and was a pillar of the Dunedin business community.
He died aged 88 on June 8. At his funeral six days later, in Knox Church, Dunedin, Mr Marsh was remembered by a great many friends and family as a highly successful businessman, philanthropist, sportsman and mentor, but most importantly a family man who achieved so much.
He was born in Dunedin on September 7, 1933, the second son of Bill and Muriel Marsh. He came from a humble background, gaining a scholarship from Arthur St Primary School to assist with his studies at Otago Boys’ High School.
In his adult years, Mr Marsh continued to fund the same scholarship benefiting two Arthur Street School pupils with study costs in years 9 and 10 at Otago Boys’ High School annually. He realised at an early age that a good education was paramount.
Mr Marsh completed his bachelor of commerce from the University of Otago in 1963, a few years after qualifying as a public accountant — no mean feat with three preschoolers at home.
He joined the firm of Sinclair & Haig Accountants and became a partner at age 23, when the firm became Sinclair, Haig and Marsh.
His first taste of the motor industry was doing up cars for resale to help fund his university studies.
Mr Marsh practised as an accountant for about 10 years before, in 1963, he and his brother, Eric, acquired Cooke Howlison Ltd, the General Motors dealership in Dunedin which had been established in 1895.
The Christchurch Holden dealership, Blackwell Motors, followed in 1979, and today 11 dealerships make up the Oakwood Motor Group. He instilled a strong culture of community support in all the family businesses.
In 1969, J & A.P. Scott, which is now Scott Technology, was purchased. Scott Technology, John Edmond and Arthur Ellis combined to form a listed company called Southcorp in 1987, which later merged with Donaghys, where Graeme was managing director for nine years.
Scott Technology later listed on the stock exchange, with Mr Marsh served as chairman for a record 32 years and a director for 38 years. The Marsh family remain a major shareholder in Scott Technology.
He was in the vanguard of exporting, with companies he was involved with making a major push into international markets.
From 1972 on, he was a director of numerous prominent companies, including Motor Trade Finance, Alliance Textiles, the National Insurance Co of New Zealand, Trustees Executors and Agency Co, National Mutual Association of New Zealand, National Mutual Asia Investments, Sedgwicks New Zealand, Marsh Ltd, Mercy Hospital (as chairman), Dunedin City Holdings and subsidiary companies Wilson Neill and Marsh Ltd Advisory Board.
Mr Marsh was a member of the University of Otago council for 11 years and also served on the Australia and New Zealand Business Council, was dominion president of the Motor Trade Association and a member of the Prime Minister’s Enterprise Council from 1991 to 1998.
He also undertook many community appointments, including as president of the
University Graduates’ Association, branch president of the New Zealand Society of Accountants, patron of the Otago Tennis Association, deputy life governor of Otago Boys’ High, and was a member of St Kilda Rotary Club in the 1970s.
In June 1995, he was awarded a CBE for his services to exporting and the community.
He was a distinguished fellow of the Institute of Directors and a life fellow of the New Zealand Institute of Management. In 1998 he was admitted as a laureate to the New Zealand Business Hall of Fame. He was also awarded the Mayor’s Business
Personality Award and the Deloitte Management Executive of the Year award. At this ceremony he was described as ‘‘an astute, skilful and determined leader, and an outstanding business strategist’’.
In December 2015, Otago University recognised his services to the institution by conferring on him its inaugural honorary doctorate of commerce degree.
Mr Marsh took active retirement at the age of 80 but continued as a director and mentor of the family companies, including Cooke Howlison, Blackwell Motors, Oakwood
Properties and Oakwood Securities. Even just a few weeks before he died, he was still analysing in detail the companies’ board papers.
Mr Marsh and his wife Eunice were generous benefactors to the city of Dunedin, having made significant donations to the University of Otago Marsh Study Centre, the Fortune Theatre, Marsh Sports Centre (Columba College), Otago Boys’ High School, the Regent Theatre, Neurological Foundation chair at the university, the Dunedin Public Art Gallery, St John, the Otago Community Hospice and many other worthy causes in the Otago region.
He enjoyed reading, especially biographies, and his extensive library at home and in his office was testament to this. Not only did he like to read books but he devoured the newspapers and was famous in his family for cutting out articles which might be of use in the future. In fact, on returning from one overseas holiday he collected 30 back copies of the Otago Daily Times and read the lot.
He had been a squash player in his younger years but tennis was his true passion. He was proud of the fact that he had played twice on the Queens Courts in London and had attended Wimbledon many times. He played club tennis regularly at Balmacewen Tennis Club and socially on his own grass court at Wanaka until health issues forced him to give up.
His early family property ‘‘Silveracres’’ in Anderson’s
Bay included a tennis court which was a happy place for him and his family to spend time together. More recently the Graeme Marsh Lounge was opened at the Stevenson Tennis Centre, in recognition of his service.
Eunice and Graeme travelled extensively, one highlight being a flight in a British Airways Concorde from London to Singapore. They loved London and visited the city more than 20 times. They also completed several cruises and land travel throughout Europe, Asia and North and South America and the Pacific.
Fiji remained a firm favourite destination, but in his latter years he secured an apartment annually at the Ilikai Apartments in Honolulu and enjoyed the company of family and friends sharing the swims, excursions and ginsandtonic on the balcony overlooking the marina.
His family remember with fondness the meticulously organised holidays together to celebrate special birthdays, including sailing in Turkey on board a gulet yacht, and adventures in Rarotonga, Fiji and Europe.
Mr Marsh mischievously enjoyed relating the fact that he and his wife had studied at the University of Oxford. They had completed a weeklong course on ‘‘The Rise and Fall of the British Empire’’, living on campus at the historic Christ Church Hall and relishing the opportunity to dine at ‘‘high table’’. Lectures were held in the mornings with afternoon visits to various estates of prominent English gentry. He loved the tradition and history.
Although a true Dunedin man, he also thrived on his regular holidays at his house in Wanaka. The Marshes had been holidaying in Wanaka since the early 1960s, first in a caravan, progressing to a sleepout built on a section they bought and then to a bigger home to accommodate their growing family.
It was at Wanaka that he enjoyed the company of his tennis friends and welcomed visitors from New Zealand and overseas. He was no gardener but kept his grounds in Wanaka to a very high standard and gained pleasure in using his rideon mower. He left the real gardening at his Dunedin home to his wife and was always very complimentary of her skills.
He became a member of Knox Church in his latter years and enjoyed the traditional service, organ music and magnificent choir. It was fitting that his funeral was held there, as had his wedding 67 years beforehand.
Family meant everything to Graeme and at his funeral several of his grandchildren spoke of the strong connection he made with them and their children. He talked often of having an ‘‘intergenerational business’’, and was very proud that all his children and some of his grandchildren currently work in the Oakwood Group.
Mr Marsh is survived by his wife, their four adult children and their spouses, nine grandchildren and five greatgrandchildren, and will be remembered by many as a true gentleman, generous, astute, and wellrespected by the community. — Supplied