Several Catholics received honours in the New Year’s Honours List.
Among them were:
Distinguished Professor Margaret Brimble of Epsom was made a Dame Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit for services to science. Professor Brimble was received into the Catholic Church in 2017.
She has made world-class contributions to research in medicinal chemistry and has been a key driver of the creation of a nascent drug discovery and development industry in New Zealand.
In 2018, Professor Brimble was the first New Zealand woman to be elected Fellow of the Royal Society (London).
Dame Brimble is chair of organic chemistry and director of medicinal chemistry at the University of Auckland. She discovered the drug candidate NNZ2566, named Trofinetide by the World Health Organisation, which is currently in phase three human clinical trials for treatment of Rett Syndrome and Fragile X syndrome. She established New Zealand’s first Good Manufacturing Practice Peptide Active Pharmaceutical Ingredient Manufacturing Facility that was licensed by Medsafe NZ and produced clinical grade antigens for the MELVAC melanoma vaccine trial in 2014.
She is principal investigator in the Maurice Wilkins Centre for Molecular Biodiscovery. She was Chair of the Royal Society of New Zealand Rutherford Foundation from 2009 until 2016. She has supported the L’Oreal-UNESCO Women in Science Programme. Since 2014 she has held the roles of vice-president and president of the Organic and Bimolecular Division International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC). She has been a panel member of the European Research Council Synthetic Chemistry and Materials Science Advanced Grants Scheme since 2015.
In 2012, she was made a Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit and in 2004, a member of the New Zealand Order of Merit.
Sir Stephen Tindall of Takapuna parish was made a Knight Grand Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit for services to business, the community and the environment.
Sir Stephen has contributed to the community, business, international trade and commerce, and the environment in New Zealand for more than 40 years.
He founded the Warehouse Group in 1982 and established the Tindall Foundation, one of New Zealand’s leading philanthropic foundations that has since donated more than $145 million towards strategies to improve communities and the environment.
He founded K1W1, the Tindall family’s $250 million seed and venture capital fund, which has invested in more than 200 start up and early stage business in biotech, clean tech, high tech, and environmental technologies.
He was appointed a Distinguished Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit for his services to business and the community in 2007, later re-designating as a Knight Companion in 2009, and has continued to contribute in a range of roles since that time.
He has provided sponsorship to Team New Zealand in contesting the America’s Cup and as Chair of Team New Zealand is currently involved in preparing Auckland to host a defence of the Cup.
He chaired the Growth and Innovation Advisory Board from 2007 to 2009, the Climate Change Leadership Forum from 2007 to 2009, and the Broadband Investment Forum from 2008 to 2009. He chaired the Job Summit Working Group in 2009, with a particular focus on Auckland, including an involvement co-funding the Mayor’s taskforce on jobs.
He helped establish Trees That Count, which have planted more than 11 million trees across New Zealand in the past year. He was a Council member of the World Business Council for Sustainable Development and remained involved as a co-founder and Chair of Kiwi Expat Association (KEA) until 2012.
He was made an officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit in 1997.
Professor Emeritus Ivan Snook of Palmerston North was made a member of the New Zealand Order of Merit for services to education. Queen Elizabeth II’s approval of this award took effect on October 18, 2018, prior to the date of Professor Snook’s death in November.
Emeritus Professor Snook has been a key leader in the field of philosophy of education, ethics in education, and an advocate for social justice and quality public education.
Also of note in the New Year’s Honours was that Professor Peter Lineham was made a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit for services to religious history and the community.
Professor Lineham is a leading historian of religion in New Zealand and was regional director of the College of Humanities at Massey University, Albany. He retired from Massey University at the end of 2018.
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