Christchurch resident Jens Christensen died at the scene of the single-vehicle crash on Lake Sumner Rd about 11.30am.
Another person sustained serious injuries and was airlifted to Christchurch Hospital. The police serious crash unit was investigating.
Christensen, a great-grandad, had lived in Sumner for about seven years until his death but was well known for his work with the Rolleston Residents Association.
He led a fascinating life, going from police trainee to poultry farmer to property developer and politician.
Christensen was a life member of the Rolleston Residents Association and a former chair and vice chair.
He also spent three terms as a Selwyn district councillor between 1998 and 2007.
Christensen was due to speak at former mayor Bill Woods' funeral on Monday.
About a year later, when he was at police training school in Trentham, Upper Hutt, Christensen was a part of a team who helped rescue survivors from the Wahine ferry disaster in 1968.
"I had the police van out, I could hear the Wahine’s sinking unfolding on the police radio," Christensen told The Star in 2022.
"First thing I think I heard was: 'People are starting to abandon ship, they are jumping into the water'.
"I got on the two-way radio and said to the police central station, because phone lines were out to the Hutt Valley: 'I will get this van back to Trentham and muster some manpower to get to Eastbourne Beach'.
"That’s what we did, we got instructors’ cars, the police van, anything that was mobile."
A few years later, he left the police and moved back to Christchurch with his wife Karen.
"I decided two things – I never wanted to employ staff again, nor deal directly with the public because we had 600-odd customers," Christensen told The Star in 2022.
"We rented a house for a year at Springston to decide what we were going to do. I decided development might be our next forte. It ended up in Rolleston."
Christensen bought 30 acres in Rolleston off the Crown in the 1990s.
The neighbour then put the adjoining 250 acres on the market - so Christensen bought that as well.
When the council wanted to name a new road in the reserve, a Rolleston Residents Association initiative led to it being called Christensen Parade.
As a Selwyn district councillor, Christensen held various portfolios, including employment, economic development, youth and youth employment.
He also chaired the Izone centre for 12 years.
"Izone was successful because we set it up as a board of directors, separate from council, so it wasn’t pushed and pulled every three years by a different bunch of councillors," Christensen told The Star in 2022.
"That development actually returned a profit of $40 million to the people of Selwyn. We built a few buildings out of that."
He and Karen then bought another development in Lincoln with 150 sections. It had two houses at the time - so they moved into one of them.
From Lincoln, Christensen moved to Redwood in Christchurch. But the house was damaged in the 2011 earthquake so they bought another home in Rolleston.
Recently in his role as Rolleston Residents Association vice chair, Christensen caused a stir over his push to get the word “library” included in Te Ara Ātea’s name after it was built.
-APL
