Sir Eion Edgar, making New Zealand a better place
Queenstown businessman and philanthropist Sir Eion Edgar at his home
Sir Eion Edgar claims to have graduated from Otago University with a Bachelor of Commerce, and honours in social studies.
The last part makes him chuckle. There was no such thing as social studies at university – just very social people and Edgar was at the top of that class.
He also did quite well academically, much to the surprise of his former headmaster at John McGlashan College, who had advised Edgar’s parents not to waste the university’s time by sending his son there, Edgar recalls.
“The story is that the headmaster rang my father after my first year and said ‘There was obviously two E Edgars studying commerce because I see there’s one got four As. Tell me, how did your son get on?’ ‘’
As it turned out Eion Edgar, the student who took two years to get School Certificate and was only awarded University Entrance the second time because the headmaster liked cricket “and I could bowl straight”, not only gained four As and a B in his first year, but later spent four years as chancellor and seven years as pro chancellor of the university.
He carved out a stellar career as a leading businessman, rich-lister, a philanthropist in sport, education, youth, arts, sports and health, a husband, a father and one of life’s good guys.
Edgar has held many chairmanships and received many awards, including president of the New Zealand Olympic Committee, chairman of the New Zealand Stock Exchange, a director of the Reserve Bank and titles such as NBR New Zealander of the Year 2004 and Senior NZer of the Year in 2010.
As a key figure and long-time chairman of Dunedin-based investment firm Forsyth Barr, he played a critical role in the development and funding of Dunedin’s now legendary covered stadium of the same name and put his personal stamp on the city’s sporting scene by providing the first $500,000 needed to build the Edgar Centre, among other sporting facilities.
His lifelong work was recognised with a Distinguished Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit in 2003, being redesignated as a knight with the restoration of titular orders in 2009.
But recently there’s been a new rush to recognise his work due to his unexpectedly failing health. In December, at 76 and after a lifetime of activity, he was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. Doctors advised him that chemotherapy was unlikely to help, and he was given a life expectancy of two months.
Sir Eion Edgar has spent decades and untold millions supporting sport, education, youth, arts, sports and health causes
Five months later we sit in his luxurious Queenstown lounge, one wall dominated by a Grahame Sydney original (“Grahame is a very good friend”), the expansive view of Lake Wakatipu adjacent, and surrounded by art work, including vases, sculptures and a Ralph Hotere around the corner.
Edgar is much thinner than he was – a consequence of existing on smoothies and soup – but he retains his enthusiasm for life and a sense of calm and generosity with his time, despite a long line of people wanting a slice of it.
Three infusions of Vitamin C each week are helping.
“I feel good. I’ve lost a bit of weight, but I do miss a nice glass of wine.”
Up until early May he was actively playing tennis and walking each day with wife Jan and their golden retriever Poppy. Walking has become more difficult now, but he continues to catch up with friends and keep up to date with his emails (about 100 a day, usually at least two of them asking for money) and the financial markets. They are the habits of a lifetime.
Born in Dunedin to George and Caroline, Edgar quickly latched on to his accountant father’s interest in shares and stockbroking.
“My father loved shares, and we had little numbers of shares in lots of companies, so there would hardly be a day when a balance sheet or an annual report didn’t come in our post box at home. I was always looking at that.”
At 12 he worked in the school holidays as a builder’s labourer, earning a total of 11 pounds 10 shillings. His father invested that in 23 Conzinc Riotinto CRA shares. The young Edgar’s life as an investor had begun.
He went to the private John McGlashan College from Standard 4.
“I wasn’t that bright, and it was a smaller school, so I was able to participate in everything. Particularly in sport, which I loved.”
His main sports were cricket and basketball. He was hopeless at rugby but played “because everyone had to”.
During holidays he travelled New Zealand with his parents and younger sister Noela and the family donated their time to the church and various community groups.
All the time the young Edgar was also reading the business pages and following the market. He was looking to make money.
“I realised that if I was going to get on in life you couldn’t rely on others. I had to think and find ways to earn. Whenever I saved some money I would buy another five shares in something.”
He established a good work ethic in his first three years at university, juggling part-time classes with 35-hour working weeks at his father’s accounting firm James Brown and Co, and later at Forsyth Barr.
“I learned to be organised ... Making use of time, never wasting time. Don’t sit around.”
A fast-growing social life included establishing the university’s Share Club, involvement in the Commerce Students Association and a later role as treasurer of the Otago University Students’ Association. In 1968 he was part of a sleep-in, successfully advocating for a change to the rules that prohibited mixed flatting.
After graduating, Edgar spent two years becoming a qualified accountant but looked to stockbroking for a career.
Future wife Jan, a keen sportswoman who represented Otago in netball and played tennis to a high level, was going to Auckland to complete a diploma in physical education, so he followed along and had “two wonderful years”.
Jan and Eion married in 1971, before going to London, but both had prestigious job offers and returned to Dunedin 18 months later.
Sir Eion Edgar with and wife Jan, Lady Edgar at their Kelvin Heights home
“On November 1, 1972, I joined Forsyth Barr, and I am still there. Next year it will be 50 years,” he says.
He has always loved “the game” of stockbroking.
“In accounting you’re looking at the past but with this you’re looking at the future. What’s the prospects of the company? What’s likely to happen? Suddenly first thing in the morning there would be an announcement of a takeover. Every day was different.”
Edgar says wise investment decisions, a large fixed interest portfolio, good management, sticking with the New Zealand market and careful expansion during quieter times, were the keys to success for Forsyth Barr.
When he started there were four partners and six staff. Today the company has 450 staff in 23 offices.
It was not without challenges, including the 1987 stock market crash.
On October 20, 1987, the day that would become known as Black Monday worldwide, Edgar had arrived in Wellington as the newly elected president of the Dunedin Stock Exchange for his first meeting of the New Zealand Stock Exchange Board.
“I flew up in the morning having heard overnight that there’d been this massive crash of the stock market in New York. As soon as the market opened in Wellington it started to crash.”
By the end of the day at least five of the market’s members were insolvent. Within the week it got worse, but Forsyth Barr was able to ride it out with minimal changes.
Alongside his company’s growth, Edgar’s personal wealth was developing, helped also by the inheritance of some Dunedin properties his father had been accumulating, including the well-known Savoy building.
The properties were all highly geared, so Edgar fought to cover the interest before being able to securely retain them and split ownership with his sister.
“That really gave me a lot more responsibility. We were just starting to have a family, so it was a busy time.”
Being a father to three healthy sons was a fantastic part of life and he and Jan invested their time into making sure the boys had every opportunity possible, he says.
It was while his family was growing up that Edgar began to help the community on a philanthropic basis.
It started with tennis courts in Dunedin before a $500,000 contribution towards new indoor netball courts. He asked Dunedin City Council to pay the remaining $2 million for the building but was rejected.
“There were elections coming up, so I went around each councillor and asked if they realised that 40 per cent of every street in their electorate had netball players in it. They suddenly changed their mind and did support it.
That was Edgar’s first big philanthropic gift. He shrugs when asked how much he has given to charitable causes over the years. “$10 million?” he says, but it is likely much higher.
He was founding benefactor and chairman of Otago University’s now internationally renowned Edgar Diabetes and Obesity Research Centre and has been involved in the Arts Foundation of New Zealand, Dementia Prevention Trust, Diabetes NZ, the Foundation for Youth Development (formerly Project K), the Halberg Disability Foundation and Plunket NZ.
His strong belief in the value of education ensured he maintained a strong relationship with Otago University and saw him create and fund the Queenstown Resort College, in his adopted Central Otago home.
He is enormously proud of the work of the Central Lakes Trust, on which he has been trustee or chairman and then chairman of the Investment Committee since 2004, and just recently was involved in the opening of the Dunstan Trail.
“We inherited $160 million, it’s now worth $420 million, and we’ve given out $120 million in grants. It’s amazing.”
His involvement with New Zealand’s Olympic Committee started in 1993; he retired in 2009, after seven years as chairman.
He’s been to six Olympic Games, seeing New Zealand win four gold medals in a day in Athens and watching Dunedin lad Danyon Loader win two swimming gold medals in Atlanta.
Edgar was booked to go to Tokyo this year, but will instead watch with interest from home in Queenstown and make the most of the friends and family that surround him.
Sir Eion Edgar with Poppy, who is always keen for a walk
His life had been a lucky one, and he will continue to support chosen charities via his Charitable Trust for many years into the future, he says.
“I want people to remember that I’ve been able to contribute and make New Zealand a better place.
“I’ve always said my aim in life is for everyone to owe me a favour. That says it all.”