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Māori Development Minister Nanaia Mahuta joined Kiingitanga followers, Tainui Waka and hundreds of others at Mataatua Marae in Rotorua today to attend the tangihanga of Māori language champion and Tūhoe leader Te Wharehuia Milroy.
Professor Milroy died yesterday after a long illness.
He lived in the Waikato for many years with his late wife Niwa and children.
Ms Mahuta says he had a gentle, humble and humorous personality and was generous with the knowledge he possessed about te ao Māori.
He will be remembered as a bastion of te reo and a great exponent of his Ngāi Tūhoe reo and tikanga.
Professor Milroy was a professor at Waikato University, a trustee on the Kōhanga Reo National Trust and served on the Waitangi Tribunal.
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