Gordon Mason

Sir Gordon Charles Mason OBE JP (8 November 1921 – 20 July 2010) was a New Zealand local-body politician and businessman. He served as the mayor of Rodney District from 1989 to 1992.

Sir Gordon Mason
OBE JP
Mason in 1944
1st Mayor of Rodney District
In office
1989–1992
Succeeded byDoug Armstrong
18th Chairman of Rodney County
In office
1973–1989
Preceded byJohn James Granville
Succeeded byOffice abolished
Personal details
Born
Gordon Charles Mason

(1921-11-08)8 November 1921
Helensville, New Zealand
Died20 July 2010(2010-07-20) (aged 88)
Red Beach, New Zealand
Spouse
Tui King
​
(m. 1944)​
Children3

Biography

Born in Helensville on 8 November 1921, Mason was the son of Joseph Henry Mason and May Louisa Mason (née Parker).[1][2] In 1944, he married Tui Audrey King,[3][4] and the couple had three children.[1] They lived at Kaipara Flats, where they ran a transport business and later farmed.[1][5]

Mason entered local-body politics in 1960, when he was elected a member of the Rodney County Council. He served as deputy chair of the county council for 10 years from 1963, and then was chair between 1973 and 1989. When Rodney District was created by the amalgamation of Helensville Borough and Rodney County in the 1989 local government reforms, Mason was elected the district's first mayor, before retiring from public life three years later.[1]

Mason served as president of the New Zealand Counties Association between 1984 and 1987, and was intimately involved in the marger of that body with the Municipal Association in 1988 to form the Local Government Association (LGA). In 1994, he was made a life member of the LGA. He was also a justice of the peace.[1]

Mason died at the Hibiscus Coast Hospice in Red Beach on 20 July 2010, and was buried at Kaipara Flats Cemetery.[6][7][8] His wife, Tui, Lady Mason, died in Warkworth on 10 February 2022.[4]

Honours and awards

In 1977, Mason was awarded the Queen Elizabeth II Silver Jubilee Medal.[9] In the 1982 Queen's Birthday Honours, he was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire, for services to local government.[10] In the 1993 New Year Honours, he was made a Knight Bachelor, also for services to local government.[11]

References
  1. "Rodney's first mayor dies". Stuff. 22 July 2010. Retrieved 18 February 2022.
  2. "Birth search: registration number 1921/24829". Births, deaths & marriages online. Department of Internal Affairs. Retrieved 18 February 2022.
  3. "Tui King and Gordon Mason with their wedding party". Auckland War Memorial Museum. Retrieved 18 February 2022.
  4. "Lady Mason obituary". The New Zealand Herald. 18 February 2022. Retrieved 18 February 2022.
  5. Pickmere, Arnold (24 July 2010). "Mayor knew district inside out". The New Zealand Herald. Retrieved 18 February 2022.
  6. "Rodney District's first mayor dies". Otago Daily Times. 20 July 2010. Retrieved 18 February 2022.
  7. "Death notices". The New Zealand Herald. 22 July 2010.
  8. "Record for Gordon Charles Mason". Auckland Council. Retrieved 18 February 2022.
  9. Taylor, Alister; Coddington, Deborah (1994). Honoured by the Queen – New Zealand. Auckland: New Zealand Who's Who Aotearoa. p. 431. ISBN 0-908578-34-2.
  10. "No. 49010". The London Gazette (3rd supplement). 12 June 1982. p. 40.
  11. "No. 53154". The London Gazette (2nd supplement). 31 December 1992. p. 29.
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