Obituary: Canon Bob Lowe

Cleric, broadcaster. Died aged 76.

One of New Zealand's best-known clerics, Canon Bob Lowe, has died at a Christchurch retirement village.

The once energetic and high-profile Christchurch character died on Wednesday aged 76.

The witty and popular former vicar of Fendalton, who made his name in the pulpit, on television, and in print, suffered a series of strokes in his early 70s and had been unwell for several years.

His life in the church was often touched by controversy. He believed Maori owed Europeans a great deal and he had anti-feminist views.

In 1981 he was charged with stealing a packet of pipe tobacco from a supermarket. He was acquitted, the court accepting the incident had been accidental. Last year he was charged with shoplifting a chocolate bar.

Canon Lowe was born in Auckland in 1927 to a devout Anglican family. His father, Alfred, was a guard on the railways.

He trained as a teacher in Auckland where he also played senior rugby for two years. He taught in Taumarunui and at Wesley College in south Auckland before touring the United States after the war.

Younger brother Graeme Lowe says Bob was initially derisory about religion but returned to New Zealand a Christian after working for Unesco and being influenced in London by Methodist minister Dr Donald Soper.

Mr Lowe said his brother had always been "one of the boys" and greatly enjoyed sport and a drink.

Bob Lowe trained at College House in Christchurch and was ordained in the Anglican church in 1953.

His first position was as a curate in Timaru, where he married local woman Elaine Ruston.

They had two boys, Timothy and Jonathan, and a girl Melanie. Timothy died of a brain tumour at a young age, and the marriage ended in divorce.

Canon Lowe was the first vicar of St Nicholas' Church in Barrington and vicar of Geraldine between 1960 and 1964 before taking over the Fendalton parish in 1966.

He stayed 20 years before retiring from the church in 1986, aged 60.

Bob Lowe is survived by his brother, a son and daughter and two granddaughters.

- NZPA