Obituary

Abstract

John arrived at the Forest Research Institute in Rotorua in the late 1960s after a brief stint with the Marine Department and settled into the Entomology Section joining Bob Milligan, Rudy Zondag, and Bill Faulds amongst others down under the poplars at the far end of the campus. His primary focus was on quarantine border interceptions, particularly wood boring insects, which was the catalyst for him becoming an expert in the identification of cerambycid larvae and their parasitoids, particularly ichneumonidae, for which he developed a keen interest. John also made major contributions to quarantine risk management and was directly involved with the Forest Service timber inspection team, and later the MAF Quarantine Service. He was heavily involved in the risk management of Asian gypsy moth, making many pilot launch trips at various ports around the country, often in rough seas, to inspect vessels before they were allowed to berth. He also supported colleagues in a wide range of projects (even swimming the Buller River to help Gordon Hosking collect increment cores from a particularly desirable stand of red beech), but it is perhaps the white spotted tussock moth eradication project which is his lasting legacy. His untiring efforts in the field, designing and supervising population monitoring using caged female insects, a seven day a week operation, was critical to the success of the project. This was an achievement unique to the international entomological community but hardly celebrated in his own country. Following on from the successful white spotted tussock moth eradication, John was involved in the painted apple moth and Dutch elm disease eradication campaigns. The latter was not successful, but not through lack of John’s efforts. He spent over 15 years advising on the entomological aspects