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National | Dr. Ranginui Walker

Final farewell for Dr Ranginui Walker

Esteemed leader Dr Ranginui Walker was farewelled in Auckland today with thousands of people gathering at Ōrākei Marae for his final journey.

His son Dr Stewart Walker shared his gratitude with the people, “This has been a fantastic occasion for our family. We have been honoured by the number of people that have come to pay their respects to our father. From what we've heard over the last 3 or 4 days you could almost believe he's a saint but I assure you he was actually a normal human being.”

Thousands of people flocked to Ōrākei Marae over the last three days to pay tribute to one of the strongest advocates for Māori.

For Professor Dame Anne Salmon, his work was inspiring, “There are still so many huge challenges for us to tackle as a country but he's inspired us to see what one person can do for others with intelligence with courage warmth discipline and dedication.”

Ngāti Whātua representative Grant Hawke spoke of his iwi’s appreciation, “Ranginui Walker always came to Ōrākei to talk about what was happening, where he was working and also give us some encouragement to carry on with what we were doing, to build our hapu, to build our marae.”

To the sage of profound cognizance, the night is yours may you rest in peace.