George John Griffiths (17 June 1933 – 29 January 2014) was a New Zealand historian, writer, and journalist. Griffiths started his newspaper career in 1954 at the '' Southland Times'', based in

Invercargill Invercargill ( , mi, Waihōpai is the southernmost and westernmost city in New Zealand, and one of the southernmost cities in the world. It is the commercial centre of the Southland region. The city lies in the heart of the wide expanse of ...

, moving to Dunedin and joining the ''

Otago Daily Times The ''Otago Daily Times'' (ODT) is a newspaper published by Allied Press Ltd in Dunedin, New Zealand. The ''ODT'' is one of the country's four main daily newspapers, serving the southern South Island with a circulation of around 26,000 and a ...

'' in 1962. He was to work at the latter paper until his retirement in 1991.Historian dies at 80
" ''

'', 30 January 2014. Retrieved 22 April 2018. In 1978, Griffiths co-founded Otago Heritage Books, which published books on the history of the southern

South Island The South Island, also officially named , is the larger of the two major islands of New Zealand in surface area, the other being the smaller but more populous North Island. It is bordered to the north by Cook Strait, to the west by the Tasman S ...

, many of which were edited by Griffiths, and also operated as a central Dunedin bookshop which became a hub for local writers and historians. He also wrote numerous books, many of which were published by Otago Heritage Books, most of them relating to Otago history, and contributed many biographical articles to the

Dictionary of New Zealand Biography The ''Dictionary of New Zealand Biography'' (DNZB) is an encyclopedia or biographical dictionary containing biographies of over 3,000 deceased New Zealanders. It was first published as a series of print volumes from 1990 to 2000, went online ...

. In the 1990 Queen's Birthday Honours, Griffiths was appointed a Companion of the Queen's Service Order for community service. He was named as a

University of Otago , image_name = University of Otago Registry Building2.jpg , image_size = , caption = University clock tower , motto = la, Sapere aude , mottoeng = Dare to be wise , established = 1869; 152 years ago , type = Public research collegiate ...

Hocken fellow in 1998,Griffiths, George John, Dr : Business, research and personal papers
" ''thecommunityarchive.org.nz''. Retrieved 22 April 2018. and Dunedin's Citizen of the Year in 1999. He was also awarded an honorary doctorate by the

. Griffiths died in early 2014. Many of his personal papers are now held as part of the Hocken Library collection.

References

1933 births 2014 deaths 20th-century New Zealand historians Writers from Dunedin Companions of the Queen's Service Order {{NewZealand-historian-stub