Antarctic explorer dies while on one last adventure

Dr Malcolm Gordon Laird in 2008. Photo / Supplied

An Antarctic explorer who died while travelling with his wife in Machu Picchu has been remembered as a "remarkable and lovely man".

Dr Malcolm Gordon Laird was on a trip exploring South America with his wife Margaret Burrell to celebrate their 40th wedding anniversary when he suddenly died of a suspected heart attack.

The couple had visited Iguazu Falls, which span the border of Argentina and Brazil, and were travelling to Machu Picchu when Dr Laird began complaining of shortness of breath, which Dr Burrell said she and the tour operator put down to altitude sickness. He was given oxygen on a number of occasions.

On June 21, Dr Laird returned to his hotel room with his wife and said he didn't feel right. He lay on the bed and died.

Dr Burrell and the tour operator performed CPR on Dr Laird until paramedics arrived. Attempts were made to revive him but were unsuccessful.

Dr Burrell said she spent the night with her husband and he was taken away the next morning.

Dr Laird, a Christchurch resident originally from Ngarua in Waikato, was a sedimentologist and experienced explorer in Antarctica.

He led five geology missions in Antarctica between 1964 and 1983. He was awarded the Polar Medal in 1978.

A discovery made on one trip led to Plateau Laird and Cape Laird being named after him.

"He had a very special life," Dr Burrell said.

After his last expedition to Antarctica he travelled on cruise boats to Antarctica giving lectures on his expeditions and studies.

"He was great at it, he had the knowledge, but he also had a series of very entertaining tales that he would tell," Dr Burrell said.

"He was a geologist by passion... a gentleman geologist."

Outside work, Dr Laird enjoyed taking his three daughters skiing, camping and tramping.

"He thoroughly enjoyed his girls," Dr Burrell said.

The trip to South America had been organised to celebrate the couples milestone anniversary in a year that had been "difficult", Dr Burrell said.

"We had decided to go away because we were both tired... we made the decision to go to South America while we were relatively mobile," she said.

"It was a well-organised trip, but it was a condensed trip. Malcolm said to me 'I will be glad to be home'.

"But, we had a good time, and Malcolm took lots and lots of photographs."

Dr Laird enjoyed photography as a hobby.

Since his death, his family have been trying to bring Dr Laird home, and daughter Islay Laird said the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade had been assisting with the negotiations.

"Hopefully he will be on a plane home in the next week," she said.

"It's really hard. It just feels like he's away, it doesn't feel real."

Ms Laird said the family has received many calls, emails and cards from people all over who had connected with her father in different ways.

"There are lots of different people who loved Dad. We've been hearing lots of interesting stories, Dad was a real story-teller, but now we're hearing the other side of the stories."

Ms Laird said her father's had many family living in the North Island, with siblings in Whangarei, Hamilton and Auckland.

Funeral arrangements would be made once Dr Laird's body arrived back in New Zealand.