Obituary: Hugh Fraser

Hugh Fraser and his late wife, Margaret (Tim).

Hugh Fraser, founding chairman of the Friends of Refugees Trust. Died aged 85

New Zealand has lost a lifelong champion of cultural understanding.

Hugh Fraser learned Maori as a young man, taught English to Asian immigrants and chaired the Friends of Refugees Trust, a North Shore group formed in 2001 to support refugees of Karen ethnicity from Myanmar (Burma).

He came from a multicultural European background, speaking fluent German as well as English.

Born on March 23, 1920, he served in a commando unit of the British Army in World War II, where he met his wife, Margaret (Tim).

They brought their two children to New Zealand in 1952.

In about 1959 the family moved to Manurewa, where Hugh found work as an insurance agent and Tim as assistant to Professor Neil Mowbray, dean of the Auckland University engineering school. In those days the engineering school was at Ardmore, and the Frasers' home became a refuge for its 70 students.

He became a volunteer support worker five years ago for the Refugee and Migrant Service and was assigned to one of about 25 Karen families from Burma who were placed in the Birkenhead/Northcote area.

In 2001 he helped form the Friends of Refugees Trust which has raised cash to assist the Karen people to buy traditional musical instruments and costumes for cultural performances, to set up small businesses and create a terraced community garden in a gully behind Beach Haven School.

He is survived by son Chris, daughter Diana, their spouses Jackie and Alexander and grandsons Simon and Adam.

His wife, Tim, passed away three years ago.