Rufus Rogers

Rogers was born in New Plymouth on 12 July 1913.[1] The doctor who delivered him spotted some rust-coloured hairs on his head and wanted to call him a "haematite", but his mother insisted that if anything, he was to be called Rufus. That name always stuck.[2] Rogers later attended Whitiora School and Hamilton High School, as well as Nelson College from 1930 to 1931[3] and the University of Otago, where he completed an MB ChB degree in 1938. He practised in Hamilton as a general practitioner.[2]

He was asked by the Labour Party whether they could nominate him for the 1972 election in the new Hamilton East electorate. Not even a member of the party at the time, he thought he must have been mistaken for his brother, Denis Rogers, who had been Mayor of Hamilton from 1959 to 1968.[2][4] Rufus Rogers represented the Hamilton East electorate for one parliamentary term from 1972 to 1975, when he was defeated by National's Ian Shearer.[4][5]

Starting in 1956, a local campaign began to have a university in Hamilton. The barrister and solicitor Douglas Seymour chaired the lobby group for the first five years, to be succeeded by Rogers. In 1964, their work was done and the University of Waikato was officially opened by the Governor-General, Sir Bernard Fergusson.[2][6] Denis Rogers was the university's first chancellor from 1964 to 1969.[7]

In the 1987 New Year Honours, Rogers was appointed a Companion of the Queen's Service Order for public services.[8] He died on 18 August 2009.[2]