As a family the Steiners are more intertwined than most; wife Marie's company administrator, son Kraig works alongside his parents, Mike's sister married Marie's brother.
Before embarking on an express journey through his life we quiz him about his role as, at times, controversial spokesman for the Inner City Focus Group; his passionate vision to return the CBD to the thriving place it once was.
"I have a big mouth and not afraid to open it."
His knowledge of Rotorua's business community over more than five decades is encyclopaedic, as is his ability to pinpoint the location of shops long gone.
One day when he's not quite so busy he'll record their whereabouts, who owned them, the thing is he's busier than ever, his clients span the country.
His introduction to Rotorua came as a child living in Putaruru.
"My grandfather owned Chirmes Hotel in Hinemoa St where Iles Casey is today. We'd come over on the train, I was mesmerised by the place, the people, the music."
The word 'mesmerised' peppers his conversation.
Here's another example: When two aunts went to a Tamatekapua dance a pint-sized Mike surreptitiously followed.
"I had this little Donegal tweed suit with short pants, was stopped at the door, sent home; instead I sat in the St Faith's graveyard mesmerised by the music."
When his builder father moved over the Mamakus he was ecstatic.
"It was a wondrous place to grow up, the New Year's Eve parades, the Government Gardens were our playground, we ran riot."
At 11, he acquired an after-school job at Newton King, the paint department became his kingdom.
"Here I was, this kid, telling people what colour to paint their walls."
It was a portent of things to come.
He "hated school with a vengeance", left at 15 for a trainee job with the Commercial Bank of Australia, it was coupled with another from school days at the J&T Superette.
"I'm from a family with a strong work ethic."
J&T's owner tempted him from the bank with the promise of a management course.
"My father hit the roof, to him the bank was a prestigious position."
Mike stood his ground.
"One day filling shelves I fell off a stool, got a hairline crack in my spine, the upshot was while recovering I went into Curtain Textiles with my mother, Ray Waugh [the owner] heard me talking colours, he said 'if ever you want to change your career come to me'."
A brief stint back in the superette convinced the fledgling decorator grocery wasn't where his talents lay.
"I got up the courage to see Ray, said 'were you serious about that job?' I started with him in 1966, interior decorating was new, within days I was doing decor for clients, now I'm working with their grandchildren."
Each week he went to Tokoroa, operating from the back of a van. "I did that for 15 years, Tokoroa was a wealthy town then."
Mike pioneered decorating classes at a Fenton St display centre. "There was standing room only, I was asked to run night classes at Boys' High. I was no teacher, was full of bullshit, I've always said this business is full of bullshit."
In 1978 he was invited to decorate a Lockwood show home at the Baghdad World Fair.
"The most fascinating place ever, just like Ali Baba And The Forty Thieves, the night before the show opened we hosted Saddam Hussein and Idi Amin, Hussein was the most ignorant, rude man, Amin the most gracious and polite, I was mesmerised by him."
During his month-long stay Mike did the unthinkable, went walking alone.
"I got lost, suddenly I was surrounded by guards with rifles, spread-eagled on the ground. I thought 'this is the night I'm going to die'."
Mike, being Mike, smooth-talked himself out of his predicament.
"I said I knew the All Blacks, of course I didn't, I gave the guards cigarettes, they let me go."
As time progressed he became a shareholder, then partner, in Curtain Textiles, taking over when Waugh retired.
"We expanded and expanded then in 1990 the local economy dried up, it was desperate times, Marie and I went to Tauranga where business was better, found premises, organised a truck to move the stock over. Coming home we got to Okere Falls, I became very emotional, saying 'there's no way I can leave this place', somehow we struggled on."
Persistence paid dividends. There've been two shops since. Mike Steiner's Interior Design in Eruera St, followed by the present Steiners Interiors By Reputation's Pukuatua St premises.
"I wanted to own my own building, Kraig had joined the business, we've gone from strength to strength."
In 2012 Mike Steiner was named the city's Businessman of the Year. "One of the few times in my life I've been speechless."
Forget financial downtimes, they were nothing compared with the day in 1997 a grenade was lobbed into the Steiners' lives - Marie's sudden illness was leukaemia.
"I was told she could be dead in 48 hours, she spent seven months in Waikato Hospital, as she improved she was balancing the books from her bed.
"It was our friends who got us through this, we are very rich in our friends, the wonderful people who've been and still are our customers, that's what being in business a long time's all about."
MIKE STEINER
Born: Kaponga, 1948.
Education: St Mary's Convent, Boys' High (both Rotorua).
Family: Wife Marie, two sons, one daughter, one grandson, one granddaughter "a second's due in January".
Interests: "My business has always been my main interest." Rotary (was awarded Paul Harris Fellowship in 1992) "I play golf badly." Cycling, member numerous organisations
On Rotorua: "The most fabulous place in the world and it belongs to us."
Personal philosophy: "If you ask your community to support you you have to support your community."
