Michael Avigdor Hirschfeld was a New Zealand businessman, and was President of the New Zealand Labour Party from 1995 to 1999.
12 Facts About Michael Hirschfeld
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2.
Michael Hirschfeld was born in Wellington; his parents had arrived from Palestine in 1940.
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Michael Hirschfeld's grandparents were Austrian, and he was a 'secular Jew' and agnostic.
4.
Michael Hirschfeld was initially educated in England before returning and attending Wellington College and Victoria University of Wellington, where he was active in the anti-Vietnam War movement.
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Michael Hirschfeld then gained a master's degree at Victoria University.
6.
Michael Hirschfeld conducted interviews with several cabinet ministers, including Sir Arnold Nordmeyer, and provided transcripts of the interviews as appendices.
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Michael Hirschfeld married Vivien Flack in 1967, with whom he had two daughters and one son.
8.
Michael Hirschfeld's cousin was Yair Hirschfeld, one of the architects of the 1993 Oslo Accords, which set the Middle East peace process in motion.
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Michael Hirschfeld first joined Labour in the 1960s and helped found Young Labour in 1967, but clashed with Labour Prime Minister Norman Kirk over the Vietnam conflict.
10.
Michael Hirschfeld was the one who encouraged Labour leader Helen Clark to speak at the 1998 Alliance conference.
11.
Michael Hirschfeld suffered from diabetes which led to total kidney failure in 1995, forcing him to add daily dialysis to a regime of insulin injections.
12.
Michael Hirschfeld died in Raumati on 5 January 1999 after he had been admitted to hospital in late 1998.