David Finnis

23 August 1928 -17 April 2016

David enjoyed the professional challenges of valuation practice. He put an enormous amount of his time into his work and always strived to achieve a high standard and quality. Moreover, the valuation profession was important to him and he enjoyed the client and collegial relationships. David, however, was not always in valuation and it was a long road for my father to achieve this.

David was born in and lived his early life in Auckland. His father, a reverend, moved there from England in the 1920s bringing Davids family including his older brother and two sisters. The family, however, returned to England in the mid 1930's. When David was 11 he started school at Greshams public school in Norfolk.

After school, David wanted a career in the then developing field of wireless radio and worked and studied with Marconis. His career took a significant turn when he was offered a position as an assistant tea plantation manager for a British tea company in India. He left alone at the age of 21 for Assam where he started his career as a tea planter. Life was difficult initially with the living and working conditions being quite basic, and there were times when his position was potentially dangerous. With experience and seniority, a professional and social life style emerged typified by the large tropical bungalows, the numerous servants, and club life for which David had fond memories now lost of course to history.

David met and married his Swedish wife, Ulla, on one of his home leaves. She returned to India with him and in 1956 they had a daughter, Anita and in 1960 the twins, Carin and Nicholas.

Changing times lead to changing management structures and with the pressures of education for the growing children they decided to leave India in 1966 and moved to New Zealand. David initially continued in the tea industry for which his experience was welcome and had some innovative ideas.

It was then that David entered the field of finance, studying accountancy, and getting a job with Investors Protection Company. He later moved to Wrightson NMA, and this move leads him into property management and sales. He studied Real Estate and acquired his qualifications for registration in real estate selling, for which he focused on commercial property. He later moved to Harcourts and then Simpsons real estate as opportunities arose.

It was at this time he studied valuation and was successful in completing his qualification, and subsequently becoming registered. His interests were broad but he developed experience in the valuation of petrol stations for which he was sought after and later produced a hand book on the topic. He set up his own practice from his Eastbourne house, practising in the wider Wellington area. He continued in his private practice until retirement at the age of 84.

David and Ulla enjoyed raising their family in Eastbourne. Outside work and family David was passionate about sailing and sailing boats, owning many over the years. This was the catalyst to many pleasant holidays and memories.

Ulla passed away in 2010 and David continued his work in Wellington until he was 84. Following his retirement, he left Wellington for the Thames Valley to live in a cottage next to his daughter. He had a well deserved but short retirement and passed away on April 17 2016. He will be sadly missed by all his family.

Nicholas Finnis