Family farewells beloved fisherman father

Russell Brown. Photo / Supplied

Avid fisherman Russell Brown was farewelled by family and friends yesterday after he died in a freak boating accident on the Waitemata Harbour.

Brown was fishing with two friends on Tuesday night when his launch hit a rock near Rangitoto Island and started taking on water.

The 64-year-old was inspecting the damage when his clothing became caught in the boat's rotating drive shaft and he was strangled.

Brown, who lived in Flat Bush and drove a taxi with the Alert company, had always been a keen fisherman and diver, said his two eldest children, Ruby Fox and Pete Brown.

"He worked his way up from a dinghy to a launch," said 44-year-old Brown at his father's wake at the Otahuhu Railway Bowling Club yesterday afternoon.

Several hundred people attended the funeral at Manukau Memorial Gardens before moving to the club.

The bowling club was "the place he loved the most," said Fox, 46, the eldest of Brown's 10 children.

Brown's large family includes seven siblings, 28 grandchildren and seven great-grandchildren, as well as his partner Flo's grandchildren, whom he helped raise.

He grew up in Christchurch but spent most of his life in Auckland, and was "a bit of a character", said his children.

"You could hear him before you'd see him."

From the Bombay Hills north everyone called him Brownie, they said. "But south of the Bombays he was known as Pango, which means black, 'cause he's so white."

As well as his passion for fishing and bowls, Brown was an active member of the Otahuhu Workingmen's and Cosmopolitan Club and had a great love for animals. He was particularly fond of German shepherds and his cat, Dennis.

Brown was cremated and his family plans to scatter his ashes at sea near the rock where he died.

His children thanked the Coastguard for its help.

Pete Brown also warned other boaties to think before they act in any situation that could be dangerous.

"Tangaroa rules the water, not people," he said.