Cricketer Josh Tasman-Jones, of Dunedin, said he went to primary school with Joseph Day, of Auckland, who was recently found dead by British police after he went missing in mysterious circumstances four days ago in Bristol.
Their 26-year friendship was recently cemented when Mr Day was a groomsman at Mr Tasman-Jones’ wedding in Dunedin on April 2.
Mr Tasman-Jones said Mr Day was "genuine and loyal".
His friend was a kind, softly spoken man who lived by his morals - the sort of person you could trust to be there for you.
Whenever Mr Tasman-Jones returned to Auckland, Mr Day would drop everything so they could catch up over a beer.
Mr Tasman-Jones had been in contact with Mr Day’s fiancee and his mother, who were both travelling over to Bristol. They were heartbroken.
His friend would leave a massive hole, but also many special memories.
The two of them had gone travelling together to America after they finished school.
When they were 21, the two of them had gone on a trip with about 20 others to Thailand.
More recently, the pair had gone to the United States in 2019 with their partners and visited the Coachella music festival.
A Givealittle page was started yesterday to fundraise to bring Mr Day’s body back to New Zealand and support his family.
In 12 hours 1346 people had donated $80,857 of its $100,000 goal.
