By TONY WALL
Garreth MacFadyen was an over-achiever.
Last week, the young gun was promoted to an overseas position with sharebroking firm Merrill Lynch that his bosses told him would normally have been filled by someone at least 15 years his senior.
So the 24-year-old had good reason to party when the firm's staff Christmas function was held at Quay West Hotel on Friday night.
But the party ended in tragedy, and three days later the promising young futures trader was dead.
His Hawaiian grass skirt was allegedly set alight in the men's toilets of the hotel's fifth-floor function centre.
A man has been arrested and police are understood to be considering laying a manslaughter charge.
Mr MacFadyen suffered severe burns to about 70 per cent of his body and, despite the efforts of Middlemore Hospital burns unit specialists, lost his battle for life on Monday evening.
Doctors told his family they had looked around the world for better treatment options, and were prepared to fly him overseas.
But no facility anywhere in the world could have saved him.
His distraught parents, Ian and Sue MacFadyen of Invercargill, were told that three days was the longest hospital staff could remember anyone with such serious burns surviving.
They were not surprised - their son was a strong fighter.
Last night the family spoke exclusively to the Herald from the Remuera townhouse Garreth bought when he arrived in Auckland this year.
His parents remembered fondly a son who always achieved beyond his years in sport and business.
Born in Timaru, he moved with his family to Invercargill in 1980 and attended Rosedale Intermediate and Southland Boys' High.
Coincidentally, an old schoolmate was one of those who tried to help him as he lay on the toilet floor on Friday night.
He excelled at sport, and represented New Zealand in under-17 soccer.
In the seventh form he decided to switch to rugby and quickly became an accomplished loose forward, eventually playing for the Otago colts.
He graduated from Otago University with a bachelor of commerce degree.
He went to Japan and worked for Bankers Trust, playing rugby for the Tokyo Crusaders.
About April this year he moved to Auckland, planning to go back to university.
Instead, within days, he was offered a position with Merrill Lynch.
Mr MacFadyen sen now runs a teaching business with his wife. But he was a police officer for 28 years, and was used to breaking tragic news to families.
"I'm used to being on the official side of things - being on the other side is an absolute gut-wrencher."
Garreth's sister, Rochelle, said she would remember her brother as "a true inspiration for everyone."
The family have been stunned by the number of friends who have flown from around the world to attend Garreth's memorial service, at Purewa Crematorium in Remuera at 11 am today. He will be buried in Invercargill on Saturday.
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