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Bereavement of John William Maggs

17 January 2013

AUTHOR:Kevin Birch

It is with much sadness that I advise that our friend and colleague, John William Maggs passed away suddenly on 27th December 2012. John was the Survey Manager at Birch Surveyors since 2004 and would have had contact with many landowners over the last 8 years.

John will be remembered for his kind and gentle manner, his perserverance, his hard work, his survey knowledge, and his dedication to and love for his family. All the staff of Birch Surveyors gathered with John’s family and friends on Monday 7th January for his funeral and farewell.

John came to work for Birch Surveyors after a long career with Opus (formerly the Ministry of Works and Development) In its transition from the Ministry of Works and Development to a fully privately owned company, in April 1988 Opus became the Consultancy Division of the State-Owned-Enterprise, Works and Development Services Corporation NZ Limited.  In November 1996, Works Consultancy Services was sold to Kinta Kellas of Malaysia and the company subsequently changed its name to Opus International Consultants Limited (Opus) in April 1997.

With this background John provided a depth of knowledge in legalities and nuances of surveys that greatly benefited our clients and younger surveyors in the Company. John widened his knowledge and interest in Resource Management and developed a keen interest in conservation protection.

John’s heavy workload has been distributed amongst other senior staff in the company, until such time that an additional surveyor of John’s caliber can be found. RIP John William Maggs. B.Surv.