25 Facts About Dove-Myer Robinson

Sir Dove-Myer Robinson was Mayor of Auckland City from 1959 to 1965 and from 1968 to 1980.

Dove-Myer Robinson was a colourful character and became affectionately known across New Zealand as "Robbie".

Dove-Myer Robinson has been described as a "slight, bespectacled man whose tiny stature was offset by a booming voice and massive ego".

Dove-Myer Robinson's mother influenced his upbringing by transmitting the strict values her rabbi father had taught her.

Dove-Myer Robinson established Robinson's Motor Cycle and Bicycle Depot in 1930, but the business struggled as a result of the Great Depression, expanding to include cars.

Dove-Myer Robinson married Veda Alice Davis, a 17-year-old, on 7 December 1937.

Dove-Myer Robinson had begun living with Bettine Williams, a seamstress, and on 15 March 1941 they married and had two daughters and one son.

Dove-Myer Robinson raced motorcycles as well as selling them and for a time he was a sidecar racing champion.

Dove-Myer Robinson held the World 500cc Speedway title in 1936.

Dove-Myer Robinson's racing injuries excused him from military service in World War II.

Dove-Myer Robinson entered politics in the late 1940s when he led the opposition to a sewage dumping scheme championed by Auckland Mayor Sir John Allum that would have discharged untreated effluent into Waitemata Harbour.

Dove-Myer Robinson joined the Auckland and Suburban Drainage League, a group opposed to the idea of disposing Auckland's sewage and slaughterhouse waste into the harbour and intent on finding an alternative.

Allum dismissed Dove-Myer Robinson labeling him as a "noisy crank" and disliked the challenge to his authority.

Dove-Myer Robinson used the publicity he had gained in his fight against Browns Island to stand out from the crowd and won the election.

Dove-Myer Robinson had established a public profile during his lengthy political struggle against the Browns Island plan, but it took a toll on his private life.

Dove-Myer Robinson was infamously known for walking from his home in Remuera to work at the town hall shirtless, often media cameras in tow.

Dove-Myer Robinson won over smaller councils and exploited Parliamentary recommendations for compulsory council amalgamations to forge the issue ahead successfully on condition that the existing councils were left intact.

Dove-Myer Robinson endured a three-year political hiatus and was now a single parent.

Dove-Myer Robinson was again returned to the ARA where he was appointed to the transit committee.

Dove-Myer Robinson was appointed a Knight Bachelor in the 1970 Queen's Birthday Honours, for outstanding services as mayor of Auckland.

Dove-Myer Robinson's influence declined in the 1970s and after his 1977 election victory he promised not to run again.

Dove-Myer Robinson was loath to retire and twice attempted to re-enter politics.

Dove-Myer Robinson stood for mayor again in 1983 but finished a distant fourth.

Dove-Myer Robinson lived out his remaining years in a retirement village in Auckland until his death on 14 August 1989, survived by his six children.

Dove-Myer Robinson has been described as one of New Zealand's most popular and colourful politicians, politically independent, rationalist, environmentalist and alternative medicine advocate.