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Respected Northland lawyer and former Taitokerau District Māori Council chair Wiremu Puriri has died of cancer aged 67.
Respected Northland lawyer and former Taitokerau District Māori Council chair Wiremu Puriri has died of cancer aged 67.
As well as working in courtrooms across Northland, Mr Puriri served on local and regional councils and on the council of the University of Auckland.
Friend Shane Jones says he was also on the Waitangi National Trust representing the whanau of Hone Heke, one of four seats reserved for the descendants of prominent signatories of the Treaty of Waitangi.
He was also mentored by Sir Graham Latimer, serving as secretary of the Taitokerau Māori Trust Board in the late 1980s when Sir Graham was leading efforts to stop the sale of state assets.
The tangi for Wiremu Puriri is at Ngāraratunua Marae near Whangarei.
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