Warwick George Roger (21 August 1945 – 17 August 2018) was a New Zealand journalist, and the founder of ''

Metro Metro, short for metropolitan, may refer to: Geography * Metro (city), a city in Indonesia * A metropolitan area, the populated region including and surrounding an urban center Public transport * Rapid transit, a passenger railway in an urba ...

'' magazine. He was one of New Zealand's leading journalists during the late 20th century, and his magazine "Metro" was the first of its kind in Auckland, NZ, with its campaigning journalism, long opinionated articles, publishing of long letters to the editor in full, no matter the viewpoint, and general celebration of glitz, gossip and conspicuous consumption. It reflected the times of the 1980s and early '90s. Roger was a keen cricket fan and a marathon runner, who also wrote a gossip column called "Felicity Ferret" which could border on the cruel, and it brought him a defamation suite in 1994, costing the magazine $100,000, and heralding the ferret's demise. He was a mentor to many journalists and bravely faced for the last decades of his life the handicaps of Parkinson's disease. In the

2008 Queen's Birthday Honours The Queen's Birthday Honours 2008 were appointments by some of the 16 Commonwealth realms to various orders and honours to recognise and reward good works by citizens of those countries. The Birthday Honours are awarded as part of the Queen's Of ...

, Roger was appointed an

Officer 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 journalism. Warwick died in 2018 at the age of 72.

References

1945 births 2018 deaths New Zealand journalists Officers of the New Zealand Order of Merit New Zealand editors New Zealand magazine editors {{NZ-bio-stub