It is with great sadness that we announce the death of Dave Cull, earlier today, following a short illness. 

As well as serving as Mayor of his local community, Dunedin City, he is a former President of LGNZ (the national local government association for New Zealand). Most importantly to the CLGF family, he was a valued and highly respected former Vice-Chair Person and Board Member of the Commonwealth Local Government Forum. 

CLGF Patron, and former Prime Minister of New Zealand, Helen Clark, expressed her sadness and praised Mr Cull’s skilled and competent representation of New Zealand local government and his role in CLGF’s biennial conference in 2017.

CLGF Chair, Mpho MBW Moruakgomo recalled the effortless cooperation Mr Cull displayed when discussing any issue, great or small, providing clarity and wisdom. He expressed his sincere condolences to his family. 

Current LGNZ President, Stuart Crosby, applauded his great ability to communicate, developed over a varied life as a carpenter, TV presenter, author, speaker and elected member. He said: “Part of his legacy as LGNZ President will be the way he drove our climate change portfolio, and the need for urgency in how we address it.  Serving under him as LGNZ Vice-President was an honour.”

CLGF Secretary-General, Lucy Slack said: “Dave Cull was a great champion of local government and, as our Vice-Chair, he generously shared his knowledge and experience with Commonwealth counterparts to strengthen local leadership across the Commonwealth. He was also a very decent and generous friend to CLGF and he will be missed.”

Image courtesy of LGNZ