Sir James Muir Cameron Fletcher (25 December 1914 – 29 August 2007), often known as Jim or JC Junior, was a New Zealand industrialist known for heading

Fletcher Construction The Fletcher Construction Company Limited is a New Zealand construction company and a subsidiary of Fletcher Building. Together with Higgins Contractors Ltd it makes up the Construction division of Fletcher Building. Fletcher Construction is wid ...

, one of the country's largest firms. His father, also Sir James Fletcher, founded the company in 1908.

Early life and family

Fletcher was born in

Dunedin Dunedin ( ; mi, Ōtepoti) is the second-largest city in the South Island of New Zealand (after Christchurch), and the principal city of the Otago region. Its name comes from , the Scottish Gaelic name for Edinburgh, the capital of Scotland. Th ...

, New Zealand on Christmas Day 1914. He was James Senior's second son. In 1942, the year Fletcher Jnr became head of Fletcher Holdings, he married his office assistant, Margery Vaughan Gunthorp (born 9 February 1912 at Balclutha). She was treasurer of the Mental Health Foundation, and was appointed a

Member of the Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...

in the 1988 Queen's Birthday Honours. James and Vaughan Fletcher had three children: Jim, Angus, and Hugh Fletcher. Their eldest son Jim was killed by an intruder at his

Bay of Plenty The Bay of Plenty ( mi, Te Moana-a-Toi) is a region of New Zealand, situated around a bight of the same name in the northern coast of the North Island. The bight stretches 260 km from the Coromandel Peninsula in the west to Cape Runaw ...

bach Johann Sebastian Bach (28 July 1750) was a German composer and musician of the late Baroque period. He is known for his orchestral music such as the ''Brandenburg Concertos''; instrumental compositions such as the Cello Suites; keyboard wor ...

(holiday home) on New Year's Eve 1993. Angus married

Christine Fletcher Christine Elizabeth Fletcher (née Lees, born 25 January 1955) is a New Zealand politician. Currently an Auckland Council councillor, she was previously a National Party Member of Parliament from 1990 to 1999, and served one term as Mayor of A ...

, former Minister of the Crown and

Mayor of Auckland The Mayor of Auckland is the directly elected head of the Auckland Council, the local government authority for the Auckland Region in New Zealand, which it controls as a unitary authority. The position exists since October 2010 after the amal ...

, and Hugh now runs Fletcher Holdings.

Fletcher Construction

In 1937, Fletcher joined his father's construction business. Following the election of the First Labour Government in 1935, Fletcher senior established an enduring friendship with the government, leading to Fletchers' building some of the first state houses in New Zealand. When Fletcher senior was seconded by the government in 1942, his son took over the running of Fletcher Holdings. At the time he was just 27 years old. Among his achievements was the forestry joint venture with the Holland National Government in the 1950s to build the Tasman Pulp and Paper Company mill at

Kawerau Kawerau is a town in the Bay of Plenty region of the North Island of New Zealand. It is situated 100 km south-east of Tauranga and 58 km east of Rotorua. It is the seat of the Kawerau District Council, and the only town in Kawerau Distri ...

. He was chairman of Fletcher Holdings from 1972 to 1981 and was president of the new

Fletcher Challenge Fletcher Challenge was a multinational corporation from New Zealand. It was formed in 1981 by the merger of Fletcher Holdings, Challenge Corporation and Tasman Pulp and Paper. It had holdings in construction, forestry, building, and energy, ini ...

conglomerate from 1981. He resigned as a director of the company in 1990.

Honours and awards

In the

1980 New Year Honours The 1980 New Year Honours were appointments in many of the Commonwealth realms of Queen Elizabeth II to various orders and honours to reward and highlight good works by citizens of those countries. They were announced on 31 December 1979 to cele ...

, Fletcher was appointed a

Knight Bachelor The title of Knight Bachelor is the basic rank granted to a man who has been knighted by the monarch but not inducted as a member of one of the organised orders of chivalry; it is a part of the British honours system. Knights Bachelor are th ...

, for services to industry and the community. In the

1997 Queen's Birthday Honours The 1997 Birthday Honours were announced on 14 June 1997 for the United Kingdom and on 2 June 1997 for New Zealand.New Zealand list: Queen's Birthday Honours are announced on or around the date of the Queen's Official Birthday in the United King ...

, he was appointed a

Member of the Order of New Zealand The Order of New Zealand is the highest honour in the New Zealand royal honours system, created "to recognise outstanding service to the Crown and people of New Zealand in a civil or military capacity". It was instituted by royal warrant on 6 F ...

, the country's highest civilian honour. In the 1988 Queen's Birthday Honours, Fletcher's wife, Vaughan, Lady Fletcher, was appointed a

, for services to the community.

Early life and family

Fletcher Construction

Honours and awards

References

Further reading