Tahu Potiki remembered as 'quick witted, loving and a beautiful dad'

Wednesday, 28 August 2019

Respected tribal leader Tahu Potiki has been remembered as a 'unique and special man' who will be a 'hard act to replace'.

The death of respected tribal leader Tahu Potiki has been felt across New Zealand, with his grieving wife saying she has lost her 'best mate'.

The former Te Rūnanga o Ngāi Tahu chief executive died in Auckland Hospital on Tuesday night. He was 53.

He was diagnosed with end-stage liver disease in 2014 and received a liver transplant three years later.

Potiki become chief executive of the iwi in 2002, and oversaw a period of commercial development and expansion.

Tahu Potiki, pictured in March 2018, was diagnosed with end-stage liver disease in 2014 and received a liver transplant three years later.

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A decade ago he returned to live on the Otago Peninsula with his wife, Megan, where they raised their three young children.

'He was my best mate, hilarious, quick witted, loving and a beautiful dad,' Megan Potiki said on Wednesday.

Megan Potiki told Te Karaka magazine in March 2018 she felt blessed and appreciated 'the fragility of life', after her husband's years of illness 'took us right to the edge'.

The couple planned his tangi together before his transplant. 'So I've got that on file.'

Potiki described how during a cleansing karakia – performed two weeks before his liver transplant – he went from not expecting much to come of it, to feeling a 'physical pressure on my face'.

'I shook my head; I wasn't in any sort of trance. Then I felt it pulling on my legs. It went on for a minute or so, and then I started crying, not sobbing but tears just pouring out of my eyes.

'This is the strange thing, and I don't want to take anything away from the incredible health care I got, but my blood tests started getting better. I didn't feel any better, I still couldn't walk, I had no appetite, my mouth was still bleeding, but I was in a very strong position to actually receive a liver.'

His recovery was quick, and he even went on to live an active life with his children.

'I wouldn't have been able to do that before I got sick; I wouldn't have bothered even trying,' he told Te Karaka.

Potiki's death had left enormous shoes to fill, Ōtākou runanga kaumatua Edward Ellison said.

His son-in-law 'was unique and special, a hard act to replace and will leave a void in the hearts of those who knew and worked with him'.

Potiki was named after the tribe's founder and lived up to that illustrious name.

Edward Ellison, Timoti Potiki, Tahu Potiki, Megan Potiki, Tūkitaharaki Potiki, Rīpeka Potiki, Alison Ellison in March 2018.

'[He] displayed a commanding presence and filled enormous shoes.'

Potiki, who was raised in Karitane by parents Rona and the late Les Potiki, was passionate about his Ngāi Tahu heritage, was an iwi historian and writer, advocate for the Māori language revival and a respected tribal leader.

In recent years he was involved with Otago runanga consultancy Aukaha.

'He was much loved and respected by his peers,' Ellison said.

Potiki was also a former columnist for The Press, and in a 2014 column wrote about the tribe's commercial success being a means to an end for Ngāi Tahu.

'It has allowed us to invest in our culture and our people with the hope that those unique aspects that make up Ngāi Tahu will endure in to the future,' he wrote

Tahu Potiki above the port of Lyttelton in 2004 while he was Ngāi Tahu's chief executive. Potiki said the port was an example of an entity having rights over the seabed and foreshore.

His business stature meant he was included on a power list of influential people in The Press in 2005. The article said Potiki had led the iwi's business success, 'tripling its asset base from its original Government settlement of $170 million in 1998'.

E moe e te rangatira. Sad for Megan & children. I visited Tahu in hospital last time & laughed my head off as he’d share inside stories re Māori politics, #GOT iwi/Māori styles. Witty, clever, kaupapa-driven. 2 extra years thanx to a generous donor. Pōuri. https://t.co/7ba7raubBt

— Moana Maniapoto (@moanatribe) August 27, 2019

Dunedin mayor Dave Cull said he was 'very saddened' to learn of Potiki's death.

He was a cultural advisor for the Dunedin City Council.

'You were never left in any doubt as to his values and his resolve, but he had a calm and collaborative way of working with all people,' Cull said.

Otago Regional Council chairman Stephen Woodhead acknowledged the 'great loss', not only of his leadership, but also for his 'whānau and the wider community'.

Potiki was recently appointed the council's policy committee as part of a partnership with Ngāi Tahu.

'We were very much looking forward to working together and his loss will be felt around our governance table.'

In a past roles, Potiki was kaiārahi at Christchurch Polytechnic Institute of Technology, now called Ara Institute of Canterbury, and board chair of Ngāi Tahu Development Corporation. He also sat on the Canterbury and West Coast health boards.

Te Tai Tonga MP Rino Tirikatene posted a tribute to Potiki on Facebook, saying: 'The mahi and dedication you have continuously committed to not only Ngāi Tahu but Te Ao Māori will be missed.

'A big loss to our people of the Te Tai Tonga electorate. A true rangatira because his heart was always for the prosperity of Māoridom.'