Colin Maiden

{{Short description|New Zealand academic and businessman (1933–2024)}}

{{Infobox officeholder

| name = Sir Colin Maiden

| image =

| title = Vice-Chancellor of the University of Auckland

| term_start = 1971

| term_end = 1994

| predecessor = Kenneth John Maidment

| successor = Kit Carson

| birth_name = Colin James Maiden

| birth_date = {{Birth date|1933|05|05|df=y}}

| birth_place = Auckland, New Zealand

| death_date = {{Death date and age|2024|07|31|1933|05|05|df=y}}

| death_place =

| spouse = {{marriage|Jenefor Mary Rowe|1957|2022|end=d.}}

| module =

{{Infobox scientist | embed = yes

| alma_mater = Auckland University College
Exeter College, Oxford

| thesis_title = The effect of temperature on the static and dynamic strength properties of materials

| thesis_url =

| thesis_year = 1957

| doctoral_advisor =

| fields = Hypervelocity flight

| workplaces = Canadian Armament Research and Development Establishment
Auckland University College
General Motors Research Laboratories

}}

Sir Colin James Maiden (5 May 1933 – 31 July 2024) was a New Zealand mechanical engineer, university administrator and company director.

Biography

Maiden was born in Auckland on 5 May 1933, the son of Henry Arnold Maiden and Lorna Maiden (née Richardson).{{cite book |last1=Taylor |first1=Alister |last2=Coddington |first2=Deborah |author-link1=Alister Taylor |author-link2=Deborah Coddington |title=Honoured by the Queen – New Zealand |year=1994 |publisher=New Zealand Who's Who Aotearoa |location=Auckland |isbn=0-908578-34-2 |page=239}} He was educated at Auckland Grammar School where he played in the school's 1st XV rugby union team.{{cite journal |last=La Roche |first=John |date=March 2009 |title=Book review: "An Energetic Life" by Sir Colin Maiden |url=http://www.ipenz.org.nz/heritage/IPENZ_Engineering_Heritage_Newsletter_March_2009.pdf |journal=IPENZ Engineering Heritage Newsletter |publisher=Institution of Professional Engineers New Zealand |pages=8–9 |access-date=28 January 2015}} He then attended Auckland University College completing a Bachelor and Master of Engineering, graduating with the latter degree in 1956.{{cite web |url=http://shadowsoftime.co.nz/university15.html |title=NZ university graduates 1870–1961: Ma |access-date=28 January 2015}} In 1955 he was awarded a Rhodes Scholarship to attend Exeter College, Oxford, where he completed his doctorate in 1957. While at Oxford, Maiden was awarded a tennis Blue.

In 1957, Maiden married Jenefor Mary Rowe, and the couple went on to have four children.{{cite book |editor-last=Traue |editor-first=J. E. |editor-link=Jim Traue |title=Who's Who in New Zealand |edition=11th |year=1978 |publisher=Reed |location=Wellington |isbn=0-589-01113-8 |page=188}}

Maiden then took up a research post at the Canadian Armament Research and Development Establishment in Quebec, where he investigated the flight of high-velocity projectiles into space. In 1960 he returned to the School of Engineering at Auckland, and a senior lectureship in mechanical engineering. However, after a year he moved to the General Motors (GM) defence division in Santa Barbara, California, to research hypervelocity flight, and in 1966 he was appointed head of GM's metal-forming and die department in Detroit.

He then served as vice chancellor of the University of Auckland from 1971 to 1994. At his appointment he was the youngest vice chancellor in the Commonwealth, and by the time he left the post he was the longest serving Commonwealth vice chancellor. During this period he served on a number of New Zealand government committees, including the Energy Research and Development Committee and the Liquid Fuels Trust Board.

Following his retirement as vice chancellor, Maiden held directorships of many leading New Zealand companies including Fisher & Paykel Healthcare, DB Breweries, Mason Industries, Farmers Trading Company, Progressive Enterprises, ANZ Banking Group, Foodland Associated, New Zealand Steel, Winstone, Wilkins & Davies, National Insurance, Tower Corporation, and Independent Newspapers.

The Royal Society of New Zealand awarded the Thomson Medal to Maiden in 1986.{{cite book |title=Who's Who in New Zealand, 1991 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6x8OAQAAMAAJ |last1=Lambert |first1=Max |year=1991 |edition=12th |publisher=Octopus |location=Auckland|isbn = 9780790001302 |page=413}} In the 1992 New Year Honours, Maiden was appointed a Knight Bachelor, for services to education and business management,{{London Gazette |issue=52768 |date=31 December 1991 |page=29 |supp=2}} and in 1994 he was awarded an honorary LLD by the University of Auckland.{{cite book |title=University of Auckland Calendar 1996 |url=http://www.calendar.auckland.ac.nz/archive/1996-calendar.pdf |access-date=28 January 2015 |page=636 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150114182654/http://www.calendar.auckland.ac.nz/archive/1996-calendar.pdf# |archive-date=14 January 2015 |url-status=dead }} He was an Honorary Fellow of his University of Oxford alma mater, Exeter College, where he studied as a Rhodes Scholar.{{Cite web |url=http://www.exeter.ox.ac.uk/college/rectorandfellows/honorary# |title=Archived copy |access-date=25 October 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140618074430/http://www.exeter.ox.ac.uk/college/rectorandfellows/honorary# |archive-date=18 June 2014 |url-status=dead }}

Maiden's wife, Jenefor, Lady Maiden, died in October 2022.{{cite news |url=https://notices.nzherald.co.nz/nz/obituaries/nzherald-nz/name/jenefor-maiden-obituary?pid=203106714 |title=Jenefor Maiden obituary |date=31 October 2022 |work=The New Zealand Herald |access-date=31 October 2022}} Maiden died on 31 July 2024, at the age of 91.{{cite news |url=https://www.legacy.com/nz/obituaries/nzherald-nz/name/sir-maiden-obituary?id=55742144 |title=Colin Maiden obituary |date=2 August 2024 |work=The New Zealand Herald |access-date=2 August 2024}}

Honorific eponym

Colin Maiden Park in the Auckland suburb of Saint Johns is named in his honour.[http://www.tamaki.auckland.ac.nz/uoa/home/for/the-community-and-partners/recreation Recreation – Tāmaki Innovation Campus]. The University of Auckland. Retrieved 8 January 2013.

Bibliography

{{cite book |last=Maiden |first=Colin|title=An Energetic Life: An Autobiography |year=2008 |publisher=Dunmore |location=Wellington |isbn=978-1877399343}}

References

External links

Tamsyn Parker, [http://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=10524847 A serial director who has seen it all], New Zealand Herald, 2 August 2008, accessed 8 November 2012
Linda Tyler, [http://www.creative.auckland.ac.nz/webdav/site/nicai/shared/about/art-collection-and-galleries/university-art-collection/Judy%20Cassab,%20Portrait%20of%20VC%20Colin%20Maiden,.pdf From the Collection]{{dead link|date=August 2017 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}, Uni News, accessed 8 November 2012
N.S. Climie, [https://web.archive.org/web/20130209184119/http://ohinemuri.org.nz/journal/14/dr_colin_maiden.htm Top University Post, Dr Colin J. Maiden], Ohinemuri Journal #14, October 1970, accessed 8 November 2012
C.W. Malcolm, [https://web.archive.org/web/20130209170210/http://ohinemuri.org.nz/journal/39/colin_maiden_retires.htm Dr Sir Colin Maiden retires], Ohinemuri Journal #39, September 1995, accessed 8 November 2012

{{succession box

| title = Vice-Chancellor of the University of Auckland

| years = 1971–1994

| before = Kenneth John Maidment

| after = Kit Carson

}}

Category:1933 births

Category:2024 deaths

Category:Academics from Auckland

Category:Businesspeople from Auckland

Category:People educated at Auckland Grammar School

Category:University of Auckland alumni