Obituary: Mira Szaszy

Educationist and Maori leader. Died aged 80

Dame Mira Szaszy spent her adult life devoted to Maori education and to promoting the role of Maori women.

The country's first Maori woman university graduate - in 1945 - she became one of the first Maori welfare officers.

She worked closely with Dame Whina Cooper in the newly formed Maori Women's Welfare League in the 1950s and spoke to hundreds of schools and training colleges about the Treaty of Waitangi.

She exposed sexism in Maoridom - condemning the lack of speaking rights for women on marae as "a symbol of oppression" - while urging Maori women everywhere to stand for public office.

She became league president in the 1970s and was made a Dame Commander of the British Empire in 1990.

Her teaching career began in Kaikohe in 1946. In 1972, she was appointed lecturer in Maori studies at the Auckland Secondary Teachers' Training College.

In 1979, she became director of the community department at Nga Tapuwae Community College, a position she held until her retirement to the Far North in 1985.

In later years, she described herself as a "geriatric radical" and lobbied for ratification of the Treaty of Waitangi.

Te Tai Tokerau MP Dover Samuels said Dame Mira dedicated her life to helping her people and her contribution was immeasurable.

"Dame Mira was unique and a very beautiful and special person," he said.

"If there was such a thing as royal blood in Maoridom she would be the pick of them all. We've lost one of our best. It leaves a huge vacuum in terms of Maori leadership."

Born Miraka Petricevich, she married an Auckland accountant of Hungarian extraction, Albert Szaszy, in 1956. Her husband died in 1985. She is survived by their sons, Philip and Mark, and five grandchildren.

- NZPA