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A director of Fonterra says the late Craig Norgate was a great help to many Maori working in the dairy industry.
The first Fonterra chief executive will be laid to rest today in Hawera after his death in London at the age of 50.
David McLeod, who has whakapapa to all the Taranaki iwi, played cricket with Mr Norgate when they were pupils at Hawera High School.
Craig Norgate went on to qualify as an accountant and worked for the Department of Maori Affairs before entering the dairy industry, turning Kiwi Co-operative Dairies into a $4 billion enterprise and paying a major part in the industry consolidaiton that led to Fonterra.
Mr McLeod says as chief executive of Kiwi Dairies Mr Norgate knew all the 1000-plus people on the Whareroa site.
"A person like that inspires a lot of confidence in the people that work for him and he was able to get the best out of many many people and of course Whareroa here in Hawera employs a huge number of Maori across the plant and in management. He was part of providing those pathways for many of them in their careers," he says.
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