Murray John Finlay Luxton (14 September 1946 – 16 November 2021) was a New Zealand National Party politician, serving as a Member of Parliament from 1987 to 2002. From 2008 to 2015, he was the Chairman of DairyNZ, the organisation that represents all New Zealand dairy farmers. He was co-chair of the Waikato River Authority, a Crown/iwi co-governance organisation established through Treaty of Waitangi settlement legislation to clean up the Waikato River.
Early life and family
Born in Morrinsville on 14 September 1946, Luxton was educated at Hamilton Boys' High School and Massey University (BAgSc, DipAgSc, DipBusSc, MMgt). His father, Jack Luxton, was a National Party MP from 1966 to 1987. He was married to Mary Scholtens, QC.
He was for a short period (2005–06) a director of listed investment and property company Blue Chip, Luxton resigned from that Board. Luxton was appointed a co-chair of the Waikato River Authority and was a member of the New Zealand Constitutional Advisory Panel. He also sat on the boards of the Royal New Zealand Ballet Company and Landcare Research, one of the Crown Research Institutes. He was chair of the Asia NZ Foundation.
Luxton died in Wellington on 16 November 2021, after a long illness.
Honours
In the 2003 Queen's Birthday Honours, Luxton was appointed a Companion of the Queen's Service Order for public services. He was made a Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit, for services to the dairy industry, in the 2017 New Year Honours.
Awarded Massey University's Sir Geoffrey Peren Medal 2013, Awarded D.Sc. by Lincoln University 2016.
See also
- Fourth National Government of New Zealand
References
- 1990 Parliamentary Candidates for the New Zealand National Party by John Stringer p. 42 (New Zealand National Party, 1990)
- Hon John Luxton at executive.govt.nz