Comvita founder Claude Stratford is 101

Local natural health and beauty products company founder Claude Stratford celebrated his 101st birthday on Thursday.

Having got his first beehive in 1921, when he was just 11, Stratford has been a life-long advocate of the health benefits of bee products. But it was not until he was 64 that he founded Comvita in 1974, producing and selling bee products from his Paengaroa home.

Today Comvita turns over $82 million a year and exports to 14 countries.

At 95 he was a finalist in the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year and in 1999 he received the Queens Service Medal for his services to the community, particularly through his charitable trust.

Last year, to mark his centenary, a scholarship was established in his name with Auckland University's Institute for Innovation in Biotechnology.