Renaissance man, philosopher, one of life’s true gentlemen ... accolades pile up when people are describing Dr Malcolm Macpherson who died at his Alexandra home in August.
Malcolm and his wife Susan — also Dr Macpherson — moved to Alexandra in 1988 and he quickly became an integral member of the community.
He served on the Central Otago District Council from 1990 to 2001, with the exception of the 1995-98 term.
First elected in a by-election, he went on to be mayor from 2001 to 2010.
During his time on the council he was a member of the Alexandra Community Board, deputy chairman of the economic development committee, project co-ordinator of Alexandra Futures — a community-led flood recovery project — and chairman of the Alexandra flood protection committee.
In addition, he was involved in myriad community organisations, including Central Stories Museum and Art Gallery, Central Lakes Trust, Life Education Trust, Otago District Health Board, the Otago Polytechnic council, Otago Community Hospice, Jolendale Park Charitable Trust and the Roxburgh Gorge Trail Trust.
In a tribute to her father, daughter Amy Macpherson said she was grateful his long involvement in public life had left a physical and archival legacy, along with the emotional one the family would always carry.
James Malcolm Macpherson was born near Rangiora on September 18, 1946, at small settlement where his father was teaching and the family moved to Ettrick shortly afterwards.
He started school at the Roxburgh Hydro Village which was then a 13-teacher school. He recalled having 11 teachers in his first two years at school. His father’s teaching posting then took the family to Canterbury.
He had an agile and inquiring mind. After graduating in 1968 with BSc in earth science from the University of Canterbury, he went on to complete a postgraduate diploma in geology at the University of Otago the following year.
Susan Macpherson said that, following university, her husband worked for Kennecott Cooper Exploration in the early 1970s in Papua New Guinea, Australia, Indonesia and the Pacific Islands.
"He was a geologist all over the Far East where they hadn’t seen a white man before, especially a white man with red, curly hair."
"Occasionally he would wonder ... ‘if something happens to them, no-one knows where I am and I won’t get out of here alive’.
"Luckily, he gave all that up."
Deciding to do a PhD at Canterbury University was doubly fortunate for him as he was introduced to his future wife there by mutual friends.
"Later he liked to tell people I was a £10 Pom," Dr Macpherson said.
She had arrived from Wales, via London, and was working as a doctor at the student medical centre at the university.
She had to wait after agreeing to meet him.
"He was quiet and shy and I had to wait a while to be asked out."
He may have been a man of few words but he found the right ones on their first date.
"He proposed to me."
She said yes and they married shortly afterwards.
"We had a tiny wedding and he had a tiny funeral because that’s what he wanted. It was entirely in character for Malcolm to not want a fuss."
They moved to Wales to be nearer Dr Macpherson’s parents.
Once that was completed, they bought another, larger property a few doors down with a workshop for Malcolm who did fine woodwork for churches and chapels in the area.
"The nuns loved him."
A six-week visit to New Zealand to show their three children — Amy, James and Marisa — their father’s home on a campervan trip, with her mother and his brother, led to the family returning to live on the West Coast, where Dr Macpherson worked in Whataroa.
"Malcolm was reading the ODT and he said "Look, Susan the special area medical specialist job is going in Whataroa’.
"And I said ‘Malcolm, it’s always going because no-one wants to work there’."
He had worked for the Forest Service at Okarito and loved South Westland.
So in the campervan they headed to the West Coast on the then gravel road to Haast.
Dr Macpherson took the job and her husband made furniture and pioneered desktop publishing using the then-latest PageMaker/Corel Draw software on a 286 PC.
He published New Zealand’s only national craft woodworking magazine, The New Zealand Woodworker.
Dr Macpherson said, looking back, her husband had had an extraordinary life.
"He’s been able to give all sorts of things a go and not just give them a go but make a success of them."
In 1988, they moved to Alexandra as his mother was very ill. Then a year later he had cancer.
Fortunately, he was to have many more years and, in January this year, their entire family, including their three grandchildren, all gathered in Alexandra for the first time, Dr Macpherson said.
Grandson James Julian Macpherson, 9, brought a piece of timber from a scout project and his grandfather was able to spend some time in his workshop helping turn it into a race car.
Marisa Macpherson said her father was an extraordinary person for whom the term "renaissance man" truly applied.
He was also deeply committed to Central Otago and the wider region, and his professional and personal endeavours had a significant impact in the region.
Her father was a man of few but well-chosen words, she said.
He had a mischievous sense of humour along with a deep thoughtfulness, was a lifelong learner with boundless energy and resourcefulness for his many projects.
He was a man of his land, proud of his ancestral links to Central Otago, who knew all the names of the clouds, the winds and the rocks.
Current Central Otago District Mayor Tim Cadogan said when he was on the Vincent Community Board he got to know Dr Macpherson who at that time was mayor. Later, Mr Cadogan was a trustee of the Central Lakes Trust when Dr Macpherson was its chairman.
"Malcolm was a thoughtful, kind man who dedicated a huge part of his life to bettering Central Otago in many different ways."
A huge supporter of the Central Otago Museum and Art Gallery, Dr Macpherson spent many hours there and held the fort between managers.
Manager Paula Stephenson said she was privileged to be hired and guided by him.
"To me he was an incredible man, who taught me what Central Stories was and what it could be for the community."
A public memorial for Malcolm Macpherson will be held at Central Stories Museum and Art Gallery on March 26.
