Bob Fenton

Fenton was born on 9 October 1923 at Napier, and was educated at Hastings High School.[1] He served in World War II in the New Zealand Army and in the Royal New Zealand Air Force.[2] In 1951, he married Dorothy Alice Ferrier, and the couple went on to have five children.[1]

Fenton was a regional governor of the New Zealand chapter of Jaycees in 1960, and a world governor of Junior Chamber International.[2] Fenton was strongly opposed to political interference in sport and held strong views on the rugby matches between South Africa and New Zealand.[2]

In the 1975 election, Fenton stood for National in the Hastings electorate and defeated the incumbent, Labour's Richard Mayson.[3] In the 1978 election, he was in turn defeated by Labour's David Butcher.[4] Between 1979 and 1987, Fenton served as deputy chair of the Earthquake and War Damage Commission.[1]

In 1977, Fenton was awarded the Queen Elizabeth II Silver Jubilee Medal, and in 1990 he received the New Zealand 1990 Commemoration Medal.[1]

Fenton owned his own real estate company, Robert Fenton Real Estate, and was a fellow of the Real Estate Institute of New Zealand.[2] He died in 2013.[5]

• Gustafson, Barry (1986). The First 50 Years : A History of the New Zealand National Party. Auckland: Reed Methuen. ISBN 0-474-00177-6.
• Wilson, James Oakley (1985) [First ed. published 1913]. New Zealand parliamentary record, 1840–1984 (4 ed.). Wellington: V.R. Ward, Govt. Printer. OCLC 154283103.