Roger Bhatnagar

Bhatnagar was born in India on 26 October 1942, and grew up in New Delhi.[1][2] In the 1960s he travelled the world, occasionally sleeping rough due to a shortage of money. He settled for a while in Canada, where he worked in electronics retail in British Columbia. He married a New Zealand-born woman in Canada, where he had a number of children.[1]

Bhatnagar migrated to New Zealand with his family from Canada in 1980.[3][4][5][6] The same year he opened his first home audio store in central Auckland, and it quickly grew into the Sound Plus chain.[5] In 1991, he purchased the Noel Leeming chain, in receivership at that time, for around $3 million with his business associate, Greg Lancaster, from Smiths City. In 1993, Noel Leeming was listed on the New Zealand Stock Exchange with a market capitalisation of about $26 million and in 1995 the company was the subject of a failed $56 million takeover bid by Skellerup. The following year, Noel Leeming merged with competitor Bond & Bond to form Pacific Retail. In 1998, Bhatnagar stepped down as chairman and an executive director of Pacific Retail,[7] and he divested his interests in the company in 1999.[8]

In 1993, Bhatnagar was involved in setting up Burger King in New Zealand, but sold his 50 percent interest two years later.[7] He retired from active involvement in business in 2007.[9]

In 1997 Bhatnagar's wealth was estimated as $28 million.[10] Bhatnagar supported a number of charitable causes in New Zealand, including the New Zealand Breast Cancer Foundation, child cancer and diabetes.[3] In 1997, he donated $250,000 to the Breast Cancer Foundation.[11] In 2017, Bhatnagar's collection of cricket memorabilia was donated to Auckland Cricket, and it was put on permanent display at the Bert Sutcliffe Lounge at Eden Park.[12]

Bhatnagar died in the Auckland suburb of Ellerslie on 7 November 2022, aged 80.[1][6] His death, at Summerset Heritage Park retirement village, followed a long illness and a stroke in 2009.[1][2]

In the 1998 Queen's Birthday Honours, Bhatnagar was appointed a Knight Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit, for services to business and the community,[13] becoming the first person of Indian descent to be knighted in New Zealand.[4]