- The funeral for Stephen Thorpe is being held at the Blockhouse Bay Tennis Club at midday.
- His elderly father in Australia is viewing the service from a livestream.
- Friends of Thorpe said it was the perfect place for the service as it is where he “lived and died”.
The last surviving family member of the highly regarded scientist killed in Blockhouse Bay was not be able to attend his funeral service today.
Stephen Thorpe is being remembered in a service at the place he “lived and died”, the Blockhouse Bay Tennis Club.
His only surviving family, his elderly father Michael in Australia, is too frail to travel and was not at the funeral but was expected to view via a live stream.
Whau River Catchment Trust’s Gary Andrew’s voice broke in tears as he addressed Thorpe’s father directly.
“We all knew Stephen in different ways. But for Michael Thorpe, watching from Australia, he was a son.”
About 200 people are gathered on the tennis courts, with standing room only. Detective Inspector Glenn Baldwin, the policeman leading investigations into Thorpe’s homicide, is sitting at the back of the service.
Thorpe’s coffin, made from cardboard, is adorned in ferns, flax and other wild flowers.
Andrew explained why the tennis courts had been chosen as a venue - it was Thorpe’s home.
“He was so needlessly and violently taken from us,” Andrew said.
”We need to acknowledge the nature of Stephen’s death. A violent death is unlike any other death. We can’t say things we normally would when they die.”
“The amazing thing about Stephen is that he built and rebuilt his life after every setback.
“He became a highly respected member of an online community and he lived a happy and fulfilling life right until the end.
“I’m going to miss you mate.”
Andrew said Thorpe was “not like anyone else you’d ever met”.
“You have to understand him from the perspective of neurodiversity.
”He had very few possessions. When we were in his flat, everything he owned fit into a small trundler. He was wanting of nothing. He was content. All he needed was his microscope.
”Stephen only wanted to be in a lab somewhere with insects and entomologists.”
The service started with easy-listening live music, with Angelo D’Souza playing accordion arrangements of The Beatles’ Penny Lane, Let it Be and Here Comes the Sun.
Professor Jacqueline Beggs, of the University of Auckland, said Thorpe was “a teacher in the truest sense”.
”To say that insects were his life is no exaggeration. Without his guidance, many of us would have had our specimens in the unknown category.
”His impact on our community is profound. His legacy will live on in the knowledge he shared. Stephen, your absence leaves a void that cannot be filled.”
Bevan Weir, of Landcare Research, said Thorpe would be memorialised in his contributions to iNaturalist.
Weir brought several graphs and charts showcasing Thorpe’s scientific work:
“This incredible breadth of knowledge is just one of the amazing things about him.”
Thorpe has “an incredible scientific legacy”, Weir said.
University colleague Corrine Watt also spoke of Thorpe’s skills and knowledge.
”The day before his death, we were planning another trip for him to finish our project. I know he would be distraught to have left it unfinished for me.
”His untimely death is a huge loss.”
Andrew told the Herald this morning he sought permission from Thorpe’s father to hold the service.
Andrew said the location was important as it was where Thorpe “lived and died”.
“He was basically part of the furniture there, and he died there, it is the only appropriate place for the funeral.”
Andrew said he enjoyed lots of “robust arguments” with Thorpe when they lived together through the pandemic.
He said he would “enjoy” getting the last laugh today during his eulogy, and might even throw in some terminology Thorpe would have described as “woke”.
Thorpe had bug species named after him
Thorpe was a highly regarded entomologist with a passion for seeking out and identifying bugs and plants.
He worked seven days a week out of the Whau River Catchment Trust’s offices at the club.
The scientist had at least nine species of bugs named after him.
Thorpe also contributed some 12,000 insect specimens to the Auckland Museum, where he worked mainly as a volunteer throughout the 2000s.
“He had a prodigious memory, particularly for all the scientific literature about New Zealand beetles,” said John Early, a former entomology curator at the museum.
“His death is tragic and untimely, not just for its horrific circumstances but also that his valuable contribution to New Zealand entomology is now ended.”
Thorpe’s attacker lived locally, neighbours anxious
Residents of a “quiet and safe” suburb in central Auckland were terrified after learning Thorpe’s 26-year-old attacker lived locally.
He appeared in the Auckland District Court on Thursday afternoon. Judge Hana Ellis remanded him in custody and transferred the matter to the High Court. Ellis granted the man, who did not enter a plea, interim name suppression.
Police were at a house belonging to people known to the man on Thursday afternoon. Neighbours told the Herald they had seen investigators trawling the property for any evidence since his arrest on Wednesday.
A former flatmate of the accused told the Herald the man rarely engaged with his housemates, preferring to keep to himself in his room.
