Paul Reeves

Sir Paul Alfred Reeves ONZ GCMG GCVO QSO KStJ (6 December 1932 – 14 August 2011) was a New Zealand clergyman who served as Archbishop and Primate of New Zealand from 1980 to 1985 and as the 15th governor-general of New Zealand from 1985 to 1990. He was the first governor-general of Māori descent. He also served as the third Chancellor of Auckland University of Technology, from 2005 until his death in 2011.

Reeves was born in Wellington, New Zealand, on 6 December 1932, the son of D'arcy Reeves by his marriage to Hilda Pirihira, who had moved from Waikawa to Newtown, a working-class suburb of Wellington. Hilda was of Māori descent, of the Te Āti Awa iwi; D'arcy was Pākehā and worked for the tramways. Reeves was educated at Wellington College and at Victoria College, University of New Zealand (now the Victoria University of Wellington), where he graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in 1955 and a Master of Arts in 1956. He went on to study for ordination as an Anglican priest at St John's College, Auckland, receiving his Licentiate in Theology in 1958.

Reeves was ordained deacon in 1958. After serving a brief curacy at Tokoroa, he spent the period 1959–64 in England. From 1959 until 1961 he was an Advanced Student at St Peter's College, Oxford (Bachelor of Arts 1961, Master of Arts 1965) as well as Assistant Curate at the University Church of St Mary the Virgin. He was ordained priest in 1960. He served two further curacies in England, first at Kirkley St Peter (1961–63), then at Lewisham St Mary (1963–64).^{[citation needed]}

Returning to New Zealand, Reeves was Vicar of Okato St Paul (1964–66), Lecturer in Church History at St John's College, Auckland (1966–69), and Director of Christian Education for the Anglican Diocese of Auckland (1969–71).

In 1971 Reeves was appointed Bishop of Waiapu and consecrated to the episcopate on 25 March. He was Bishop of Auckland from 1979 to 1985, and additionally as Archbishop and Primate of New Zealand, the leader of New Zealand's Anglicans, from 1980 to 1985.

During this time Reeves also served as chairman of the Environmental Council (1974–76), and he served as president of the National Council of Churches in New Zealand (1984–85).

Reeves was a supporter of Citizens for Rowling (the campaign for the re-election of Labour Prime Minister Bill Rowling).

On the advice of Prime Minister David Lange, Queen Elizabeth II appointed Reeves the 15th Governor-General of New Zealand effective from 20 November 1985. His appointment was met with some scepticism due to his previous political involvement in Citizens for Rowling, opposing the 1981 Springbok Tour, and the fact that he was an Anglican bishop. Leader of the Opposition Jim McLay opposed the appointment on these grounds, asking "How can an ordained priest fulfil that [constitutional] role?" Many Māori groups welcomed the appointment, with Sir James Henare arguing that "It must be a fruit of the Treaty of Waitangi to see a person from our people." He was the first (and up to the present the only) cleric to hold the post. Moreover, as a member of the Puketapu hapū of the Te Āti Awa of Taranaki, he was the first governor-general of Māori descent.