SIR G. FENWICK DEAD

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 775, 23 September 1929, Page 1

SIR G. FENWICK DEAD

VICTIM OF INFLUENZA ATTACK VETERAN NEWSPAPER MAN Press Association DUNEDIN, Today. The death has occurred of Sir George Fenwick, aged S2, managing director of the “Otago Daily Times” Company, following a short illness with influenza. Born in Sunderland, England, in 1547, Sir George Fenwick emigrated to Victoria with his parents and arrived in Dunedin in 1856. He was educated at the primary schools and J. G. S. Grant’s Academy', Dunedin, and in 1859 he entered the “Otago Witness” office as an apprentice. In 1866 he left for Australia, but returned the same year. In 1868 he w T as part proprietor of a goldfields newspaper, and in 1875 he was manager of the “Otago Guardian,” a daily newspaper published in Dunedin. He became part proprietor of the “Guardian,” and with his partner, Mr. Reed, purchased the “Otago Daily Times” and “Otago Witness” in 1877. The business was floated into a public company the following year, Sir George Fenwick (then Mr.) being managing director. Sir George was married to Miss

Jane A. Proudfoot in 1874, and has two sons and four daughters, one of whom is Dr. G. E. O. Fenwick, of Auckland. Sir George took a keen interest in social and public questions, and was on the committee of the Prisoners’ Aid Society and the Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, of which latter body he was the founder in 18S2. He was also a member of the Prisons Board, president of the Otago Art Society, vicepresident of the New Zealand Nurses’ Memorial Fund, and chairman of the Dunedin Diocesan Trust Board. Other committees on which he served were St. Mary’s Orphanage, the Shipwreck Relief Society, the Hocken Library Committee, and St. Paul’s Cathedral Board. He was also a director of the Standard Insurance Pompany, and of the fc Lyttelton “Times” Company. In addition, he published several pamphlets on scenery, flora and fauna of Otago and mountain tours. Sir George Fenwick wab one of the founders of the Press Association, and was looking forward to celebrating its jubilee, the exact date of which is December 19 of this year. He was chairman at the time of his death, and only quite recently had compiled a historical record of the events which led up to. the formation of the association, with an interesting account of its early stages and subsequent development.