Year: 1958 - 1959
Occupation: Butcher

Sir Peter began his working life as a telegrams boy, grave digger and then a butcher’s boy with Charlie Yeoman at Seatoun, and so started a journey that created a NZ icon – the Mad Butcher. Sir Peter began with a single shop and has built up a nation-wide chain that has kept prices and quality affordable to all. In 2001 he won an Ernst and Young Entrepreneur of the Year award in the retail category. In 2006 he was inducted into the Manukau Business Hall of Fame and then into the Fairfax Media Business Hall of Fame justly taking his place among astute businessmen like Sir James Wattie and Sir Hugh Fletcher. As his success in business life grew he has always remembered where he came from, and given back to the community. Sir Peter is number 19 for the Vodafone Warriors (he doesn’t play but they have retired the jersey in his honour), he is an Honorary Ambassador of the Vodafone Warriors, NZ Rugby League, Allergy NZ, Diabetes Auckland, Prostate Cancer Foundation of NZ, Macular Degeneration NZ, and a Patron of NZ Rugby League. Sir Peter was awarded a QSM for community work in 1991 and then last year was knighted and became Sir Peter Charles Leitch QSM KNZM. Sir Peter has very recently carried out victim support work for some of those affected by the Christchurch earthquake.

Year: 1957 - 1959
Occupation: Botanical Investigator: Orchids

Gordon Sylvester is a man of many interests and many careers. He has worked at Griffins, been a bespoke footwear maker, forestry worker, tank stand maker, ambulance officer and fireman becoming a Station Officer in Wellington specialising in High rise and diving rescues. He spent some time in the Antarctic restoring historical huts. Gordon is a conservationist and a historian – researching several military events. Gordon began a degree in botany and geology at Victoria. He did not finish it but it led him to his area of excellence. He became absorbed by New Zealand native orchids. He has mapped the distribution of our native orchids throughout New Zealand, and founded the Native Orchid group. He also discovered several unnamed native orchids awaiting formal description in both the North and South Islands. He has had work published in New Zealand and overseas and he has received awards from the Department of conservation and NZ Orchids Society for his work with Native orchids.

Year: 1956 - 1959
Occupation: Structural Engineer

Structural engineer Nigel Priestley is a world expert on seismic design of concrete and masonry structures. After working for the Ministry of works and development and lecturing at Canterbury University he took a professorship in structural engineering at the University of California in San Diego. This was followed by ten years as US Coordinator of a joint US/Japanese research program on seismic design of precast structures and then 6 years as Co-director at the European School for Advanced Studies in reduction of Seismic Risk in Pavia, Italy He is currently Emeritus co-director, “Rose school” Pavia, Emeritus Professor of Structural Engineering at the University of California San Diego and principal of Priestley Structural Engineering specializing in Seismic Design. He has published more than 650 books, technical papers and reports, mainly related to seismic design, and has received more than 30 international awards for his research, the most recent of which is The 2010 FIB Freyssinet Medal (for outstanding technical contributions in the field of structural concrete). He has been a participant, and co-author of reports for many post-earthquake reconnaissance teams, including Chile 1985, Whittier, Costa Rica, Northridge and Kobe. He has been a consultant structural engineer for bridges, wharfs, viaducts and elevated motorways worldwide where seismic activity presents a threat.

Year: 1956 - 1959
Occupation: Computer Science

John graduated with a PhD from Victoria University of Wellington in 1971. After about a ten year period with the Institute of Nuclear Science (then part of the DSIR) in NZ, he changed careers and became an academic in the then new field of Computer Science. From 1992 to 1996 he was Director of Research for Information Technology at the Queensland University of Technology (QUT). He served as Dean Of Faculty of Information Technology at QUT from 1996 until his retirement in 2004. John’s current title is Emeritus Professor of Computer Science, Queensland University of Technology (QUT), Brisbane, Australia. His area of research is the design and implementation of programming languages. He is still active in this field as the chair of an International Federation of Information Processing (IFIP) expert working group. He has written three books on related technologies and currently works closely with Microsoft Inc. as a research collaborator and technology partner.

Year: 1956 - 1959
Occupation: NZ Basketball 1962-65

Glenda played lots of sports at school and played for New Zealand Women’s Basketball from 1962 – 66 touring Australia in 1964. Despite leaving school without School Certificate, Glenda gained a BA from Victoria University in 1983 and so began a lifetime in academia. She moved to America and gained an MA, PhD and MBA. As a tenured professor at Longwood University ,Virginia she has program expertise for Healthcare, Business, Management, Recreation/Leisure & Tourism teaching a diverse range of students. She has written many articles and presentations and served on several community agencies. Glenda has received several awards including the Longwood University Dean’s Award for College Education & Human Services, Dean’s Award for Graduate Studies, and the VAHPERD Professional of the Year Award 2008.