Formidable advocate for investors
It’s been said that leaders are usually either loved, feared or respected. Good leaders are two of these, and great leaders are all three. Brian Gaynor was certainly all three. He was loved because, for many years, he was the advocate for retail investors, wanting capitalism to work for them.
He was feared because his advocacy could, at times, change behaviours and topple recalcitrant directors and chief executives.
And he was respected because his analysis and advocacy were so thorough and well reasoned. And as a co-founder of Milford Asset Management, he helped create New Zealand’s tour de force of fund management.
Brian Arthur Gaynor was born in Limerick, Ireland. He arrived in New Zealand in 1976 to follow the Irish rugby team on their first tour of New Zealand and Fiji, but ended up staying and got a job with the Wellington-based broking firm Daysh, Renouf & Co.
His intellect was quickly recognised in his adopted country, and he was appointed to an advisory group to then prime minister David Lange. Recollections from those present at the time said he was a voice of reason, just as finance minister Roger
Douglas wanted to sell the national silver and introduce flat taxes.
Via his formidable intellect and sheer hard work, he rose to head of research at Jardens, then (and now) a dominant stockbroker. These were the buccaneering days of finance, with few rules and weak regulators.
As well as being an adviser to Lange, he was a member of the New Zealand stock exchange (NZX), and chairperson of the New Zealand Society of Investment Analysts and of the Asian Securities Analysts Council.
He co-founded Milford Asset Management in 2003, became a major investor in the business information bureau BusinessDesk in 2019, and wrote investment columns for more than two decades.
He was married to Anna for 30 years and had two sons, Peter and David. The latter died in 2011, aged 17.
On his journey from apprentice to master of the capital markets, Gaynor acquired an intimate knowledge of how things were done.
And he knew where the bodies were buried. The pen was his sword, his knowledge proving invaluable in helping keep the titans of finance and politics honest.
As both a shareholder advocate via Milford, and with his regular NZ Herald column, he became New Zealand’s most influential business and capital markets analyst.
He and the Shareholders Association’s Bruce Sheppard were never afraid to express their wellformed and often embarrassing opinions.
Sheppard would do it with a Viking helmet on his head, sitting at the back of annual meetings. Gaynor would do it from the middle of the room, with scything questions. Both would have directors squirming in their seats, fearful of their spotlight. Gaynor was certainly a capitalist, but a very Kiwi one too. He spent decades berating regulators and the NZX for their inability to ensure growth in our capital markets and a fair deal for the ordinary investor.
And he hated the loss of key company listings overseas. And as a gamekeeper turned poacher, he was the most vocal and consistent critic of the stockbroking industry. He regularly exposed it for protecting its own interests
He was unafraid to question the titans of finance and politics who could intimidate less experienced commentators.
while the capital markets shrank around it. Right until the end, he was criticising regulators, brokers and the NZX for fiddling while Rome burned.
And he left us exasperated at the state of our capital markets, right when KiwiSaver should be leading their renaissance.
At the peak of his influence, his columns were a must-read for anyone interested in business or investing. Each article was meticulously researched and data-rich. If you disagreed with his conclusions, it was still very difficult to fault his methodology and evidence.
And he was unafraid to question the titans of finance and politics who could intimidate less experienced commentators. Over the years, few escaped his purview.
The column was always written on a Thursday night. He would sit down with his computer, and before that with physical articles, books and newspapers, and craft the argument from scratch. It takes an impressive selfdiscipline and formidable memory to do that, rain or shine.
And as always, each article was grouped in facts and analysis, with his well-reasoned opinion only in the last few paragraphs. The last few words were always the ones with the sting in them.
Gaynor understood the power of the fourth estate, and its vital role in a modern democracy. He was instrumental in the founding of BusinessDesk.
And, once again, the sheer breadth of his knowledge was on display.
For example, his most recent columns were on funding in sports, the perils of debt, the impact of war on investments, the housing market, and in-depth analysis of individual companies. He was a one-person encyclopaedia of business and finance. Reading his columns was a mobile MBA.
Another feature of his analysis was the egoless nature of his commentary. It would be hard to find a single ‘‘I’’ in any of his articles. They were never about him, or whom he worked for.
He annoyed many in business and politics over the years, but only because they hated the sunshine his columns poured on their actions. For Gaynor, it was never personal.
And his secret power was a memory like a steel trap. His recollection of past events allowed him to quickly put the present in proper context. Those who forget the lessons of history are doomed to repeat them. Gaynor never forgot anything.
The tragedy of his death is that we had only one of him. He had the golden touch, and he cared passionately about New Zealand being a better place to live, work and play.
Okioki i runga i te rangimārie, Brian. Thank you. – By Sam Stubbs. Additional reporting by Justin Wong
Contact Us
Do you know someone who deserves a Life Story? Email obituaries@dompost.co.nz