Sir Tīmoti Samuel Kāretu (born 29 April 1937) is a New Zealand academic of Māori language and performing arts. He served as the inaugural head of the Department of Māori at the

University of Waikato , mottoeng = For The People , established = 1964; years ago , endowment = (31 December 2021) , budget = NZD $263.6 million (31 December 2020) , chancellor = Sir Anand Satyanand, GNZM, QSO, KStJ , vice_chancellor = Neil Quigley , cit ...

, and rose to the rank of professor. He was the first Māori language commissioner, between 1987 and 1999, and then was executive director of Te Kohanga Reo National Trust from 1993 until 2003. In 2003, he was closely involved in the foundation of Te Panekiretanga o te Reo, the Institute of Excellence in Māori Language, and served as its executive director.

Songwriting

In 2019, Kāretu translated nine songs from English to Māori language for the album, '' Waiata / Anthems'', which peaked at number 1 on the New Zealand album charts in September 2019. In 2021, Kāretu helped write the

Six60 Six60 are a New Zealand pop rock band formed in Dunedin, Otago in 2008. The band consists of Matiu Walters (lead vocals, guitar), Ji Fraser (lead guitar), Chris Mac (bass guitar), Marlon Gerbes (synthesiser), Hoani Matenga (bass guitar) and E ...

song " Pepeha", and translated " Hua Pirau / Fallen Fruit" New Zealand singer-songwriter Lorde for her Te Reo Māori extended play '' Te Ao Mārama''.

Personal life and honours

Kāretu was born in

Hastings Hastings () is a large seaside town and borough in East Sussex on the south coast of England, east to the county town of Lewes and south east of London. The town gives its name to the Battle of Hastings, which took place to the north-west ...

. He was adopted at the age of two months in a

whāngai adoption Whāngai adoption, often referred to simply as whāngai (literally, "to nourish"), is a traditional method of open adoption among the Māori people of New Zealand. Whāngai is a community process rather than a legal process, and usually involves a ...

by his great uncle Tame Kāretu and Mauwhare Taiwera. He was raised at Waikaremoana, Waimārama and

Ruatāhuna Ruatāhuna is a small town in the remote country of Te Urewera, in the northeast of New Zealand's North Island. It is 90 kilometres directly west of Gisborne, and 18 kilometres northwest of Lake Waikaremoana. By road, it is 50 kilometres south-e ...

, and affiliates to

Ngāi Tūhoe Ngāi Tūhoe (), often known simply as Tūhoe, is a Māori iwi of New Zealand. It takes its name from an ancestral figure, Tūhoe-pōtiki. ''Tūhoe'' is a Māori-language word meaning "steep" or "high noon". Tūhoe people also bear the sobriquet ...

and

Ngāti Kahungunu Ngāti Kahungunu is a Māori iwi located along the eastern coast of the North Island of New Zealand. The iwi is traditionally centred in the Hawke's Bay and Wairārapa regions. The tribe is organised into six geographical and administrative ...

. In the 1993 New Year Honours, Kāretu was appointed a

Companion of the Queen's Service Order The Queen's Service Order, established by royal warrant of Queen Elizabeth II on 13 March 1975, is used to recognise "valuable voluntary service to the community or meritorious and faithful services to the Crown or similar services within the pu ...

for public services, and in the 2017 Queen's Birthday Honours he was named a

Knight Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit The New Zealand Order of Merit is an order of merit in the New Zealand royal honours system. It was established by royal warrant on 30 May 1996 by Elizabeth II, Queen of New Zealand, "for those persons who in any field of endeavour, have rend ...

, for services to the Māori language. He has been conferred honorary doctorates by

Victoria University of Wellington Victoria University of Wellington ( mi, Te Herenga Waka) is a university in Wellington, New Zealand. It was established in 1897 by Act of Parliament, and was a constituent college of the University of New Zealand. The university is well kno ...

in 2003, and the University of Waikato in 2008. In 2020 he was honoured with the

Prime Minister's Award for Literary Achievement Prime Minister's Awards for Literary Achievement is a New Zealand literary award established in 2003 by the Arts Council of New Zealand Toi Aotearoa (Creative New Zealand), the national arts development agency of the New Zealand government. Each ...

in the non-fiction category and was elected a Companion of

Royal Society Te Apārangi The Royal Society Te Apārangi (in full, Royal Society of New Zealand Te Apārangi) is an independent, statutory not-for-profit body in New Zealand providing funding and policy advice in the fields of sciences and the humanities. History The R ...

. Kāretu won the 2021 Te Mūrau o te Tuhi Māori Language Award at the

Ockham New Zealand Book Awards The Ockham New Zealand Book Awards are literary awards presented annually in New Zealand. The awards began in 1996 as the merger of two literary awards events: the New Zealand Book Awards, which ran from 1976 to 1995, and the Goodman Fielder W ...

. He had been joint winner of the same award two years earlier.

References

1937 births Living people Ngāi Tūhoe people Ngāti Kahungunu people University of Waikato faculty Companions of the Queen's Service Order Knights Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit People from Hastings, New Zealand Companions of the Royal Society of New Zealand New Zealand adoptees {{Māori-bio-stub