David James Christian

David was born on the 6th of August 1938 in Dunedin. He attended Tainui Primary School, then Macandrew Intermediate School, attending King's High School from 1952-1957.

During his time at King's High School he was awarded a School BLUE for Rugby 1st XV in 1955, 1956 and 1957. He was also Deputy Head Prefect in 1957.

He attended the University of Otago in 1958 for one year studying Civil Engineering, then having to transfer to Canterbury University to continue the course. He did not complete the course. He married Joyce Fraser in 1963 and remained in Christchurch.

His first job was with Smith Kline and French as South Island Manager. In 1964 he moved to Feltex Footwear as Senior Methods Engineer. In 1969 he moved to Auckland and was employed by AHI, firstly AHI Glass as Chief Industrial Engineer. In 1970 he became Industrial Engineering Manager for AHI and in 1974 became Works Manager for AHI Sheetmetal Products until 1979 when he left and set up a publishing and communications company, but after his partner died the company was wound up.

David started in logistics in 1983, he was employed by Motor Holdings as Subaru Warehouse Manager, then Operations Manager and then National Parts Manager until 1987, when Motor Holdings lost the franchise and he was made redundant. 1987 he was employed by Nabisco Group as National Distribution Manager for Eta Foods. From 1991 he worked for various companies as Operations and Project Manager setting up warehouses and distribution centres.

In 1997 he was employed by Bax Global as Business Unit Manager where he set up and managed many warehouses including Manager for Air New Zealand Engineering Stores in both Auckland and Christchurch. Bax Global was taken over by DB Schenker. He retired in 2010.

David and Joyce separated in 1987 (they had two sons in 1971 and 1972) and he later met and married Janice Lancaster in 1993.

David had his first heart attack in 1999 and the second in 2013. He first noticed a black spot under his fingernail in 2014, diagnosed as melanoma in 2015 when the top third of his right ring finger was removed. Over the next few years he had melanoma lumps removed, mainly from the back of his right hand until 2020 when the lumps became more aggressive and he underwent radiation treatment then immunotherapy, neither making any difference. He then had his right hand amputated in June 2022 but 12 months later was told this had not stopped the spread of melanoma. 

He kept himself busy devising ‘gismo’s’ as he called them to enable him to do many things one handed, like buttering toast and opening jars. Sadly, David passed away on 16th December 2023.