Michael Cullen (politician)

Sir Michael John Cullen  (5 February 1945 – 19 August 2021) was a British-born New Zealand Labour politician and historian. He held key job positions during the Helen Clark cabinet such as Deputy Prime Minister of New Zealand from 2002 to 2008.

Early life
Cullen was born in London. His family emigrated to New Zealand in 1955 where he was raised in Christchurch. He studied at the University of Canterbury and University of Edinburgh.

From 1971 to 1981 he was a lecturer at the University of Otago, with a term as a visiting fellow at the Australian National University from 1975 to 1976.

Career
In 1981, he was elected to the New Zealand Parliament. 

He was Deputy Prime Minister of New Zealand from 2002 to 2008 during the Helen Clark cabinet. He was also Minister of Finance from 1999 to 2008 and Attorney-General in 2005 and again from 2006 to 2008. 

He was the Deputy Leader of the Labour Party from 1996 until November 2008, when he resigned following a defeat in the general election. 

He resigned from Parliament in April 2009, to become the deputy chairman of New Zealand Post from 1 November 2009 and chairman from 1 November 2010. He left the position in 2016.

Cullen identifies as a social democrat.

Personal life
In 1967, he married Rowena Joy Knight. They divorced in 1989. That same year, he married then-MP Anne Fraser. 

Cullen became a naturalized New Zealand citizen in 1975. In 2012, Cullen was appointed Knight Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit.

In March 2020, Cullen was diagnosed with terminal lung cancer which had spread to his liver. He died from the disease on 19 August 2021 in Whakatāne, New Zealand at the age of 76.

References

Category:1945 births
Category:2021 deaths
Category:Deputy Prime Ministers of New Zealand
Category:New Zealand writers
Category:Historians
Category:People from Christchurch