Robertson Stewart
{{Short description|New Zealand industrialist and exporter (1913–2007)}}
{{Use British English|date=April 2014}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2014}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Sir Robertson Stewart
| honorific_suffix = {{post-nominals|country=NZL|CBE|size=100%}}
| image = Robertson (Bob) Stewart.jpg
| caption = Bronze bust of Sir Robertson Stewart, one of the Twelve Local Heroes sculpture series
| birth_date = {{Birth date|1913|09|21|df=yes}}
| birth_place = Christchurch, New Zealand
| death_date = {{Death date and age|2007|08|13|1913|09|21|df=yes}}
| death_place = Christchurch, New Zealand
| occupation = Industrialist and exporter
| yearsactive = 1929 – mid-1990s
| spouse = {{ubl|{{nowrap|1. {{marriage|Gladys Gunter|||end=div.}}}}|2. Ellen Adrienne Peake}}
| relatives = {{nowrap|Pieter Stewart (daughter-in-law)}}
}}
Sir Robertson Huntly Stewart {{post-nominals|country=NZL|CBE|size=85%}} (21 September 1913 – 13 August 2007) was a New Zealand industrialist and exporter. He is credited with starting to manufacture plastic goods in the country.
Early life
Stewart was born in Christchurch in 1913. His father, Robertson McGregor Stewart, was an accountant. His mother was Ivy Emily Stewart (née Wooles). His parents separated when he was six, and Stewart and his younger brother Max remained with their mother. They lived in Sydenham and then Linwood.{{cite web |title=Sir Robertson Huntly Stewart 1913–2007 |url= http://my.christchurchcitylibraries.com/robertson-huntly-stewart/ |publisher=Christchurch City Libraries |access-date=23 January 2015}} He attended Linwood North Primary School, Christchurch West High School, and one term at Christchurch Boys' High School until age 13, when scarlet fever caused him to leave school. He went to Bottle Lake Hospital in Burwood for treatment and recovered, but did not go back to school.
Professional career
He trained to become an electrical engineer through attending night school for five years. His first employer in 1929 was Harry Urlwin, who instilled in him the sense of never to be frightened of anything or anyone.{{Cite book |last=Whyte |first=Mark |title=Twelve Local Heroes : a celebration : set of bronze busts commissioned by the Local Heroes Trust | publisher = Christchurch Art Gallery / Te Puna o Waiwhetu |year = 2009 |location=Christchurch, New Zealand |pages=32–34 |isbn=978-0-473-14878-2}} In 1935, Urlwin sent him to England to learn about plastics. He imported a moulding machine to New Zealand and was the first to manufacture the material in the country.{{cite news |last=Burgess |first=Malcolm |title=Fantastic plastic man dies at 93 |url= http://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=10457554 |access-date=10 April 2014 |newspaper=The New Zealand Herald |date=14 August 2007}}
He started to work for Plastic & Die Casting Ltd in 1947, a company founded ten years earlier.{{cite web |title=Company |url= http://www.pdl.co.nz/company.aspx |publisher=Schneider-Electric |access-date=10 April 2014}} By 1957, he had raised enough money to buy the company, which he renamed PDL. The company was listed on the New Zealand Stock Exchange in 1971 and at its height, employed 2,200 staff with an annual turnover of NZ$350 million. It exported to 50 countries across three continents. He established factories in many countries, including one in Malaysia in 1974. His favourite saying was:
{{quotation|My job is to make ordinary people do extraordinary things.}}
Stewart retired in the mid-1990s, handing over PDL to his son, Mark Robertson. The 60% family shareholding in PDL was sold in 2001 to the French company Schneider Electric for NZ$97 million.{{cite news |title=Schneider completes PDL takeover |url= http://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=196241 |access-date=10 April 2014 |newspaper=The New Zealand Herald |date=22 June 2001}}
Stewart was appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire in the 1970 New Year Honours{{London Gazette |issue=45001 |date=30 December 1969 |page=42 |supp=3}} and a Knight Bachelor in the 1979 New Year Honours, for services to manufacturing and the community.{{London Gazette |issue=47725 |date=30 December 1978 |page=39 |supp=3}} He was a Christchurch City Councillor from 1969 to 1972. In 1995, he was inducted into the New Zealand Business Hall of Fame. Due to his lack of formal education, the recognition that he was most proud of was his honorary doctorate of engineering from the University of Canterbury.
His business relationship with Malaysia saw him become an Honorary Malaysian Consul, a role that he filled for 28 years. The King of Malaysia appointed him a Companion of the Order of Loyalty to the Crown of Malaysia (JSM) for his business and cultural links.
Stewart Fountain
In the 1960s, Stewart offered to fund the erection of a fountain on a small public reserve on the corner of Colombo, High, and Hereford Streets. This was built in the early 1970s, Stewart finally putting up NZ$14,000, his first philanthropic contribution to Christchurch.
In 1993 it was decided that the fountain needing to be replaced. By then, its location had become part of the City Mall.{{cite web |title=City Mall Upgrade - Stewart Plaza |url=http://www.christchurchcity.org.nz/city-mall-upgrade---1.php |publisher=Central City Business Association |access-date=10 April 2014 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120110065251/http://www.christchurchcity.org.nz/city-mall-upgrade---1.php |archive-date=10 January 2012 |df=dmy-all }}{{cite web |last=Holland |first=Richard |title=Naming Stewart Plaza - City Mall |url=http://www1.ccc.govt.nz/Council/proceedings/2008/December/CnclCover19th/NamingStewartPlaza.pdf |publisher=Christchurch City Council |access-date=10 April 2014 |date=December 2008 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140413140815/http://www1.ccc.govt.nz/Council/proceedings/2008/December/CnclCover19th/NamingStewartPlaza.pdf |archive-date=13 April 2014 |df=dmy-all }} The replacement, known as the Stewart Fountain, was built in 1998 at a cost of NZ$700,000, with a NZ$200,000 contribution by Stewart and decorated with hundreds of tiles painted by Christchurch schoolchildren. The fountain developed into a favourite place for young people. Demolition of the fountain began on 13 August 2007 and 13 young people were arrested in a protest over the demolition; Sir Robertson Stewart had died that morning.{{cite news | title = 13 teenagers arrested in City Mall protest | work =The Press | url = http://www.stuff.co.nz/the-press/54404 | date = 13 August 2007 | access-date = 24 October 2011}} The removal of the fountain was supported by local business owners, who had long complained about the young people being bad for their businesses.{{cite news |title=Security fence surrounds fountain |url= http://www.stuff.co.nz/the-press/news/our-communities/12046/Security-fence-surrounds-fountain |access-date=10 April 2014 |newspaper=The Press |date=14 August 2007}}
Christchurch City Council formally named the reserve Stewart Plaza in 2008. Stewart's bequest part-funded the replacement sculpture, "Flour Power", on the condition that the installation be permanent, and that the land be known as Stewart Plaza.
Family and death
In 1937, Stewart married and later divorced Gladys Gunter. They had three children:
- Sir Robert John Stewart (born 1940), knighted in the 2014 Queen's Birthday Honours.{{cite news|first1=Cecile|last1=Meier|url=http://www.stuff.co.nz/business/industries/10109151/New-knight-scoped-out-ways-to-build-wealth|title=New knight scoped out ways to build wealth|date=2 June 2014|access-date=2 June 2014|newspaper=The Press |page=A15}}
- Elizabeth "Lee" Stewart (born 1943)
- Peter Maxwell Stewart (born 1945) married since 1968 to New Zealand Fashion Week founder Dame Pieter Stewart (who was made a Dame Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit in the 2012 Birthday Honours).
Peter was jailed in 2008 for three and a half years on historic child sex charges,{{cite news|title=Wealthy family staunch after sex case|url=http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/crime/184702/Wealthy-family-staunch-after-sex-case|access-date=25 January 2015|work=Stuff.co.nz|agency=The Press|date=1 January 2009}}{{cite news|last1=Booker|first1=Jarrod|title=Sex abuser had a life to envy - until now|url=http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10483853|access-date=25 January 2015|work=The New Zealand Herald|date=22 December 2007}}{{cite news|last1=Meng-Yee|first1=Carolyne|title=The woman who shattered the Stewart fairy tale|url=http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10492919|access-date=25 January 2015|work=The New Zealand Herald|date=17 February 2008}}{{cite news|last1=Kloeten|first1=Niko|title=Recently released Stewart cleared of rape charge|url=http://www.nbr.co.nz/article/recently-released-stewart-cleared-rape-charge-101880|access-date=25 January 2015|work=National Business Review|date=1 May 2009}} but had one rape charge against him dismissed in the High Court at Christchurch after serving jail time for his other offences. He was paroled after 14 months.[http://www.nbr.co.nz/article/recently-released-stewart-cleared-rape-charge-101880 "Recently released Stewart cleared of rape charge"], nbr.co.nz; accessed 24 March 2016.
In 1970, he married his secretary, Melbourne-born Ellen Adrienne Cansdale (who was made a Dame Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit in the 2015 New Year Honours).{{cite news|date=31 December 2014|first1=Michael|last1=Wright|url=http://www.stuff.co.nz/the-press/news/64560380/A-powerful-force-for-arts-by-any-name|title=A powerful force for arts by any name|work=The Press|access-date=31 December 2014|page=A3}} There are two children from this second marriage:
Stewart died in Christchurch on 13 August 2007. He was survived by his second wife, Adrienne, and five children.
References
{{Commons category|Robertson Stewart}}
{{Reflist|30em}}
{{Twelve Local Heroes}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Stewart, Robertson}}
Category:Christchurch City Councillors
Category:Businesspeople from Christchurch
Category:20th-century New Zealand businesspeople
Category:New Zealand Commanders of the Order of the British Empire
Category:Honorary companions of the Order of Loyalty to the Crown of Malaysia
Category:New Zealand Knights Bachelor
Category:20th-century New Zealand politicians