KEY POINTS:
Few people have been so intimately involved for so long in the development of Christchurch as Hamish Hay.
A new town hall, airport extensions, the 1974 Commonwealth Games, local body amalgamations and controversy over ideas of building a road in part of Hagley Park, the city's jewel, were all of his time.
He became a city councillor in 1959 aged 31, and was the city's longest-serving mayor with five terms 1974-89.
He became a trusted figure with wide community associations. Some described him as a "people's mayor".
Coming from an advantaged background (in retailing) and a Canterbury family name respected for many reasons, Hamish Hay was not of the Labour inclination popular in areas of the city. But he was a mayor willing to turn out at 6 o'clock on a bleak wintry morning to officiate at what would seem to be minor events.
To him it was part of the job.
But a usually careful, inclusive approach could not disguise a steely spirit available when needed.
Witness various battles over the airport runway extensions and the new terminal, opened by the Prime Minister, Mr Muldoon, in 1980, who intimated then that the basis of sharing landing charge revenue around the country was being changed.
This meant, it transpired, $570,000 a year less revenue for Christchurch, which Hay described as a "body blow". He said the city was being treated as a "poor relation".
The Government would, he said, hear more about this "straight steal". It was "an unconscionable action on their part and is grossly unfair".
Hay later said in his autobiography, Hay Days, that he was sure Muldoon never forgave some of his criticisms.
A Labour Government was not immune either.
In 1984 as Auckland planned the 1990 Commonwealth Games, Hay said he hoped it got a better deal than Christchurch had in 1974.
The Christchurch Games are still recalled for winning wide praise.
But Hay said the city had been "seriously short-changed" in help from the Labour Government and the $330,000 it gave in capital assistance was a "lousy deal".
Subsequently the facilities cost Christchurch ratepayers about $800,000 a year in maintenance.
Mayoral elections in Hamish Hay times produced little drama _ opponents might, at best, be taking part in a "two horse race".
In 1977 the Herald's correspondent reported, under the headline "Little excitement in Christchurch", "The campaign for the mayoralty in Christchurch is about as exciting as the city's railway station early on a Saturday morning."
Politically Hay could display a sure-footedness not dissimilar to that shown by Sir Barry Curtis in his long reign in Manukau City.
Once, shortly before an election, Labour attacked the announcement of council plans for a $4 million library centre as being an election bribe. Hay airily dismissed it as "just a coincidence".
And when agitation arose about a possible "road through Hagley Park" the Hay response was brief _ "certainly not while I am mayor".
Sir Hamish came from one of New Zealand's honoured families. His father, philanthropist Sir James Hay, who founded department store and supermarket chain Hay's Ltd, received a knighthood.
Two of Sir Hamish's three siblings received high honours.
His identical twin brother, Sir David Hay, was knighted for services to medicine and health and his older sister, Dame Margaret (Laurie) Salas, received recognition for work for the United Nations and for the women's and peace movements.
Sir Hamish worked in the publicly listed Hay's, rising to deputy managing director, from 1962 to 1974. He stepped down when Hay's was taken over by Wright Stephenson & Co to become Haywrights.
A keen supporter of the arts, Sir Hamish was a driving force in the building of Christchurch Town Hall. The Sir James Hay Theatre there is named after his father, who was also a city councillor.
Sir Hamish was deputy chairman of the Sir Charles Upham Trust and chairman of the Museums Trust, overseeing the controversial building of the national museum, Te Papa.
In recent years he was affected by Alzheimer's disease. He is survived by his wife, Lady Judith Hay, and their five children.
