Kiwi sexologist dies in US hospital

Renowned sexologist and psychologist John Money has died on his birthday.

The 85-year-old expatriate passed away in a Baltimore Hospital on Saturday, the 20th anniversary of the gay law reform bill in New Zealand which he was influential in getting passed.

Dr Money's nephew, Gerard Murphy, said he had been suffering from Parkinson's disease and had a bad fall last Sunday.

He was taken to St Joseph's Hospital in Baltimore with a fractured nose and left sinus bone but deteriorated throughout the week and was comatose when he died.

Dr Money had been nursed by his niece Sally Hopkins. She was with him when he died.

Mr Murphy said Dr Money, a close friend of historian Michael King and writer Janet Frame, was delighted to find out last week that a manuscript believed to be one of the last complete essays written by Dr King was to be released.

Dr King wrote the essay about Dr Money's patronage of the arts to complement the John Money Wing of the Eastern Southland Gallery in Gore.

"Sally read the story out to him a few days before he died," Mr Murphy said.

Born in Morrinsville in 1921 to a Brethren family, Dr Money attended Hutt Valley High School and went on to study psychology at Victoria University before going to the United States.

He has a PhD from Harvard University and has been based at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore since 1951.

Dr Money is survived by his brother Don, who lives in Wellington, and sister Joy Hopkins, who lives in Toronto. His body will be donated to science.