Te reo Māori was the main language used at his home, along with the example of tikanga Māori.
He was awarded a scholarship at the age of 14 and attended Te Aute College for four years.
At the completion of school certificate, he went on to Wellington Teachers' College and became a dedicated educator and devoted his life to the revitalisation of te reo Māori.
He always promoted that "re reo Māori is the first and most important gift we can give to our children along with aroha for our tīpuna and our taonga tuku iho".
He started his career in education as a primary school teacher, and spent 10 years in a handful of North Island schools, including a year at Hastings' Pakipaki School.
This was followed by 15 years with the Department of Education in Christchurch where he worked as an art and craft adviser (which included advising schools on Māori language programmes), and then as a Māori and Pacific Island education adviser, covering most of the South Island.
Enoka Munro at an Anzac Day service at Waipatu Marae, Waipatu, Hastings in 2013. Photo / File
Munro moved back to the North Island in the late 70s and returned to teaching, this time at secondary level.
He taught social studies and Māori to high school students for nearly seven years, the last two at his former school, Te Aute College.
Before accepting the position as Te Aute, Munro worked as a cultural officer for the Department of Maori Affairs in Hastings.
Munro spent the rest of his working life teaching or advising teachers and schools, and taught Māori language and culture to Hawke's Bay Prison inmates.
In 2003, he stepped into the role of commissioner at Maraenui School, Napier.
He strongly believed Māori language and culture is "an essential part of our New Zealandness''.
In 2003 he told Hawke's Bay Today that New Zealand as "a mature nation will not go anywhere without taking Māori with us".
"Total immersion [kura kaupapa] and bilingual schools play essential roles in ensuring not only the revival, but the survival, of Māori language and culture."
