Bob Tizard

Born in Auckland on 7 June 1924, Tizard was the son of Jessie May Tizard (née Phillips) and Henry James Tizard.[1][2]

He was educated at Meadowbank School and Auckland Grammar School, and earned a university scholarship in 1940.[3] In March 1943 he joined the Royal New Zealand Air Force. A navigator, he was commissioned as a pilot officer in February 1945,[3][4] and promoted to flying officer in August 1945.[5]

After the war, Tizard studied at Auckland University College, graduating with a Bachelor of Arts in 1948 and a Master of Arts in 1950.[6] His MA thesis was entitled Mr H.E. Holland's Blueprint for New Zealand and the World,[7] Harry Holland having been a previous leader of the New Zealand Labour Party.

While at university, Tizard met future wife Catherine Maclean, while he was president of the Auckland University Students Association. On their second date Tizard told Maclean he was "going into politics. And I'm going to marry you."[8] They married in 1951, and Tizard unsuccessfully ran for the Remuera electorate later that year at the general election and again at the 1954 general election.[9]

He was finally successful at the 1957 election, winning in Tamaki, but was defeated three years later by Robert Muldoon. The couple moved to Avondale and started a family, with his wife having four children in six years starting at the age of 21 with Anne, followed by Linda, Judith and Nigel. They moved in 1957 to Glendowie in the Tamaki electorate. Tizard ran for and won the Pakuranga electorate at the general election in 1963. His wife then returned to university to complete her degree in zoology,[8] and later began teaching at Auckland university. The couple divorced in 1980.[8]

Catherine Tizard was Mayor of Auckland from 1983 to 1990 and Governor-General of New Zealand from 1990 to 1996. He is the father of former Consumer Affairs minister Judith Tizard, who succeeded her father as the Member of Parliament for Panmure in 1990.

Tizard later married Mary Nacey, with whom he had a son, Joe. They subsequently divorced. He married Beryl Vignale of Canada in 1989. The couple had been engaged during World War II.[10]

Tizard was the Member of Parliament for Tamaki from 1957 to 1960, when he was defeated by National's Robert Muldoon.[8][11] For the duration of the Second Labour Government Tizard was a backbencher. In the dying days of the government, Prime Minister Walter Nash overruled security services advice and approved the naturalization of a European emigrant living in Tizard's constituency who had in his youth been linked with Marxist circles, but had lived in New Zealand for many years and had a New Zealand wife and children. The police had not given him a clearance because, in their view, he had not accepted "New Zealand ideals". Nash minuted in 1960 that he should be allowed to naturalise. The file lay on his desk without action for many months however. Tizard found the file and took it to the Minister of Internal Affairs, Bill Anderton (who was the only minister in Wellington during the 1960 election period because he was not standing) and he signed the necessary approval.[12]

He returned to parliament in a 1963 by-election in the Otahuhu electorate, but in the 1963 general election was elected MP for Pakuranga. When United States Vice President Spiro Agnew visited Wellington in mid-January 1970, Tizard along with several other Labour Members of Parliament including Arthur Faulkner, Jonathan Hunt, and Martyn Finlay boycotted the state dinner to protest American policy in Vietnam. However, other Labour MPs including Opposition Leader Norman Kirk attended the function which dealt with the Nixon Doctrine.[13] In 1972 he became MP for Otahuhu again. In 1984 he became MP for Panmure, until he retired in 1990.

His daughter Judith replaced him as MP for Panmure in 1990. She was a member of the Auckland Regional Council (ARC) and resigned after entering parliament. Tizard stood as the Labour candidate to fill the vacancy on the ARC. In a surprise result he was defeated in the by-election by Bruce Jesson of the incipient Alliance party.[22] Tizard was annoyed but not surprised with the loss saying "It's no skin off my nose if the public want to be misguided and vote for a bunch of splinters."[23]

In 2007 Tizard announced his candidacy for the Auckland District Health Board.[24] He was elected to the board, at the age of 83.[25]

In 2009, at the age of 85, Bob Tizard was asked to speak, as a historian, on aspects of World War II at a dinner held to honour Captain Jack Lyon, a New Zealand war hero and former Labour Party Member of Parliament. An mp3 recording of the 25-minute speech is available.[26][27]

Tizard was appointed a member of Her Majesty's Privy Council in 1985.[28] In the 2000 Queen's Birthday Honours, Tizard was appointed a Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit, for public services.[29]

Tizard died in Auckland on 28 January 2016, aged 91.[30]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Bob Tizard.

• Bassett, Michael (2008). Working with David: Inside the Lange Cabinet. Auckland: Hodder Moa. ISBN 978-1-86971-094-1.
• Grant, David (2014). The Mighty Totara: The life and times of Norman Kirk. Auckland: Random House. ISBN 9781775535799.
• Henderson, John (1981). Rowling: The Man and the Myth. Auckland: Fraser Books. ISBN 0-908620-03-9.
• Norton, Clifford (1988). New Zealand Parliamentary Election Results 1946–1987: Occasional Publications No 1, Department of Political Science. Wellington: Victoria University of Wellington. ISBN 0-475-11200-8.
• Sinclair, Keith (1976). Walter Nash. Auckland: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-647949-5.
• Wilson, James Oakley (1985) [First published in 1913]. New Zealand Parliamentary Record, 1840–1984 (4th ed.). Wellington: V.R. Ward, Govt. Printer. OCLC 154283103.