Former National Party Deputy Prime Minister Duncan MacIntyre died yesterday, aged 86, at his Waipukurau home.
In a tribute from Maori, Mr MacIntyre's body will lie at the Porangahau Marae.
Mr MacIntyre, who served as deputy to Prime Minister Rob Muldoon from 1981 until his retirement from Parliament in 1984, held several portfolios in two parliamentary stints.
A Hawkes Bay farmer, he represented Hastings from 1960 until his defeat in 1972.
He returned to Parliament in 1975 as the member for Bay of Plenty, and represented East Cape from 1978 until his retirement.
Mr MacIntyre was Minister of Forests, Lands and Maori Affairs from 1966 to 1972 and Minister of Agriculture and Fisheries from 1975 to 1984.
He was decorated for his service in the Middle East, Italy and Japan during the Second World War, and held senior ranks in the Territorial Force for many years, even while Deputy Prime Minister.
In the 1980s, Mr MacIntyre's political career was rocked by his involvement in a controversy that became known as the Marginal Lands Board affair.
It was an issue, he said, that would haunt him for the rest of his life.
A commission of inquiry investigated allegations that Agriculture Minister Mr MacIntyre and then Lands Minister and board chairman Venn Young had applied political pressure to get the board to approve a $140,000 loan for Mr MacIntyre's daughter and son-in-law, Audrey and Jim Fitzgerald.
The loans were to develop a 994ha farm above the Wellington suburb of Brooklyn.
Mrs Fitzgerald was then a Wellington City councillor.
The inquiry found that neither the minister nor the Fitzgeralds had acted improperly.
But it said that Mr Young's involvement and written recommendations he had made to the board on behalf of the Fitzgeralds were unwise.
The commission found that Mr MacIntyre's intervention in the matter had been most unwise.
Prime Minister Helen Clark and Opposition leader Jenny Shipley yesterday paid tribute to Mr MacIntyre.
Helen Clark said he had made a distinguished contribution during a long career of public service.
"Among Maori he is warmly remembered as a conscientious and hard-working Minister of Maori Affairs," she said.
Mrs Shipley said she had learned of Mr MacIntyre's death with great sadness.
"Duncan was on the New Zealand political scene for literally decades and will be remembered as a true gentleman."
- NZPA
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