In 2006, a national overhaul of the coronial system and the introduction of the Coroners Act 2006, saw 55 part-time coroners replaced by a Chief Coroner, and 13 supporting regional coroners.
Since then, Mr Macalister (69) has been finishing the balance of his inquests. He said he and was not disappointed to be leaving the coronial field.
"I've been doing this for about 30 years ... I'm time-expired in this business, but I've certainly seen it through a very interesting period. I'll gladly take retirement now."
How he was chosen as Queenstown coroner had always been something of a mystery to him.
"The position became vacant with the retirement of the coroner, and I received a notice from the Justice Department as an invitation. I've never been entirely sure how I was picked, but then coroners today are appointed on the basis of their legal background," he said.
In 1969, he completed a bachelor of laws degree at the University of Otago and began practising in Dunedin. He then practised in Invercargill before establishing a practice in Queenstown in 1975, which subsequently became the firm of Macalister Todd Phillips.
When the new system was introduced, he did not seek reappointment.
"The new system is very good indeed, and David Crerar is very experienced. We are lucky to have him as the southern region coroner. I personally didn't apply for any appointments as I didn't think I would be right at the time."
Over his three decades of service, Mr Macalister has dealt with hundreds of "interesting" cases, but said he could not comment on particular cases out of respect for the families involved.
"A coroner deals with unexplained and violent deaths. I can say it has been very interesting.
It was very exciting once or twice, when I ended up in a helicopter investigating at the scene. I think over the years I became quite absorbed by it all," he said.
Outside of coronial inquests, he has been legal counsel to participants in joint venture infrastructure projects in India and Pakistan and construction projects in Singapore and Malaysia. He said he planned to continue consulting from the Queenstown Mactodd office, for "as long as they need".
• The retiring coroner will tomorrow report on the death of a Wanaka-based pilot and his American passenger in a helicopter crash on Homestead Peak, near Wanaka, in 2006. Keith Andrew MacKenzie (29), of Ontario, Canada, died in the crash His passenger, Jonathan Stein (61), of New Hampshire, US, was also killed.
