![Les Gandar](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/1a/Les_Gandar.jpg)
Leslie Walter Gandar (26 January 1919 – 16 December 1994) was a New Zealand politician of the
National Party.
Biography
Early life and career
Gandar was born in 1919. He received his education from Kelburn Normal,
Wellington College Wellington College may refer to:
*Wellington College, Berkshire, an independent school in Crowthorne, Berkshire, England
** Wellington College International Shanghai
** Wellington College International Tianjin
*Wellington College, Wellington, New Z ...
, and
Victoria University, from where he graduated with a
BSc
A Bachelor of Science (BS, BSc, SB, or ScB; from the Latin ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for programs that generally last three to five years.
The first university to admit a student to the degree of Bachelor of Science was the University of ...
. During World War II, he fought for the
Royal New Zealand Air Force
The Royal New Zealand Air Force (RNZAF) ( mi, Te Tauaarangi o Aotearoa, "The Warriors of the Sky of New Zealand"; previously ', "War Party of the Blue") is the aerial service branch of the New Zealand Defence Force. It was formed from New Zeala ...
in Britain, the Middle East, and Iran. He returned to his sheep farm in the Manawatu after the war. He was elected onto
Pohangina County Council and served from 1952 to 1969, including ten years as chairman. He had a strong interest in education and was on the
Massey University
Massey University ( mi, Te Kunenga ki Pūrehuroa) is a university based in Palmerston North, New Zealand, with significant campuses in Albany and Wellington. Massey University has approximately 30,883 students, 13,796 of whom are extramural or ...
Council from 1963 and was the university's
chancellor
Chancellor ( la, cancellarius) is a title of various official positions in the governments of many nations. The original chancellors were the of Roman courts of justice—ushers, who sat at the or lattice work screens of a basilica or law cou ...
from 1970 to 1975.
Political career
He represented the
Manawatu electorate from to 1972, then
Ruahine
The Ruahine Range is the largest of several mountain ranges in the North Island of New Zealand that form a ridge running parallel with the east coast of the island between East Cape and Wellington. The ridge is at its most pronounced from the cen ...
from to 1978. He was defeated in
1978
Events January
* January 1 – Air India Flight 855, a Boeing 747 passenger jet, crashes off the coast of Bombay, killing 213.
* January 5 – Bülent Ecevit, of Republican People's Party, CHP, forms the new government of Turkey (42nd go ...
for the new
Rangitikei electorate by
Bruce Beetham
Bruce Craig Beetham (16 February 1936 – 3 May 1997) was an academic and politician from New Zealand, whose career spanned the 1970s and early 1980s.
A lecturer at Hamilton's University of Waikato and at the Hamilton Teachers' Training Colle ...
. Beetham had won the electorate in the
Rangitikei by-election, held earlier in the year on 18 February 1978 after the death of Sir
Roy Jack
Sir Roy Emile Jack (12 January 1914 – 24 December 1977) was a New Zealand politician of the New Zealand National Party, National Party. He was a Cabinet of New Zealand, cabinet minister and Speaker of the New Zealand House of Representatives ...
. National planned that Gandar would take over the new electorate at the November general election, and stood an interim candidate, local Jim Bull, in the by-election. But, to general surprise, Beetham won the by-election for Social Credit. He stood unsuccessfully for in the .
Gandar was a cabinet minister in the
Third National Government of New Zealand
The Third National Government of New Zealand (also known as the Muldoon Government) was the government of New Zealand from 1975 to 1984. It was an economically conservative government that aimed to preserve the Keynesian economic system establi ...
holding the
Education portfolio (1975–1978), and from 1979 to 1982 was the
New Zealand High Commissioner to the United Kingdom
The High Commissioner of New Zealand to the United Kingdom is New Zealand's foremost diplomatic representative in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, and in charge of New Zealand's diplomatic mission in the United Kingdom. ...
.
Later life and death
He died on 16 December 1994 in
Wellington
Wellington ( mi, Te Whanganui-a-Tara or ) is the capital city of New Zealand. It is located at the south-western tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Remutaka Range. Wellington is the second-largest city in New Zealand by me ...
and was cremated.
Notes
References
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Gandar, Les
New Zealand National Party MPs
Members of the Cabinet of New Zealand
1919 births
1994 deaths
High Commissioners of New Zealand to the United Kingdom
New Zealand MPs for North Island electorates
New Zealand education ministers
Members of the New Zealand House of Representatives
Chancellors of Massey University
Unsuccessful candidates in the 1978 New Zealand general election
New Zealand military personnel of World War II