Photo: RNZ
A philanthropist, an art collector and a medical scientist are among those made knights and dames in this year's New Year Honours. Nationwide, three new dames and four knights have been announced - and the capital is home to three of them. Reporter Kate Green spoke to the Wellingtonians about their work, their motivation, and their new titles.
Photo: Supplied
Sir Graham Le Gros is on his gap year.
It's a little later than most, but the recently retired director of the Malaghan Institute of Medical Research told RNZ he firmly believed in taking time to "calmly" think through his next step.
"I very much believe one has to retire from the job and let the other younger ones come over and do things before they get too old, so it's been great passing on the role to Kjesten Wiig, who's the new director."
Now, with a little more free time, he spent his days trapping pests in the Orongorongos and catching up on 30 years of home maintenance - while still maintaining a seat on the institute's trust board.
On Wednesday, Sir Graham is being appointed a Knight Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit for services to medical science.
He said it was those young patients with cancer - one 30
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