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

* * , - {{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