KEY POINTS:
Whakahuihui Vercoe's appointment in 2004 as Anglican Archbishop of New Zealand was not without controversy.
The churchman had been outspoken on issues such as the perceived marginalisation of Maori and the place of women in the church.
He used an address to the Queen on Waitangi Day, 1990,
to chastise the state for failing to adhere to the promises made in the Treaty of Waitangi, a move that brought him criticism and support.
Former Governor-General Sir Paul Reeves remembers that Waitangi Day.
"On one hand, it was a speech that was addressed to the Queen [Elizabeth] - we Maori have been marginalised, but there was a message underneath that, that Maori want to be part of a New Zealand for all."
The then Bishop Vercoe refused to attend the ordination of Dr Penny Jamieson as Anglican Bishop of Dunedin in 1991. In his view, his people were not ready for women clerics.
In his first major interview after his appointment as head of the Anglican Church, he told the Weekend Herald he believed homosexuality was unnatural and not morally right.
"And that's not quoting Scripture either ... I'm basing it on human accepted norms."
Archbishop Vercoe also supported separate structures for Maori, including schools, and was instrumental in the splitting of the New Zealand Anglican Church into three cultural sections, or tikanga, in 1992. He headed the Maori tikanga.
He was firmly of the view that Maori churchgoers should develop their own personal theology.
"I think it is far more important that they interpret God from their view rather than as a theological expert saying how they should think."
Whakahuihui Vercoe was born in Torere near Opotiki in 1928. After studying at Feilding Agricultural High School, Canterbury University and College House Theological College, he was ordained in 1952.
He served as a military chaplain in Malaya between 1961 and 1963, and in South Vietnam in the late 1960s.
He was elected Bishop of Aotearoa in 1980, the first time Maori had had the chance to choose their own church leader. Previously the appointment had been made by Anglican bishops throughout the country.
Early this year, Archbishop Vercoe made a claim, reportedly for $170 million, to the Waitangi Tribunal in support of Maori Vietnam veterans exposed to Agent Orange.
Archbishop Brown Turei, the Primate of the Anglican Church, said in a tribute yesterday the bishop did not suffer fools gladly but was also incredibly fun to be around.
He laughed a little when asked if the archbishop could be difficult.
"He certainly spoke his mind and, if it was something to do with Maori, he was in there boots and all."
Archbishop Vercoe is survived by his wife, Doris, three sons and six grandchildren.