death_date death_place birth_place image_size birth_date image article_title name occupation
20 august 1963 auckland , new zealand juniper green , midlothian , scotland 150px 24 november 1888 sir david henry.jpg david henry -lrb- businessman -rrb-
 sir david henry industrialist
david henry -lrb- businessman -rrb-

sir david henry , kbe -lrb- 24 november 1888 -- 20 august 1963 -rrb- was a scottish-born new zealand industrialist , company director , and philanthropist .
henry was born at juniper green , midlothian , scotland .
his father , robert henry , was a sawmiller and on leaving school , david worked as a clerk in the mossy paper mill at colinton while attending night classes in edinburgh , possibly at heriot-watt college .
indifferent health prompted him to emigrate to new zealand in 1907 .
he worked for the government printer in wellington for a brief time before moving to christchurch , where he founded an engineering business .
when the business failed he shifted to auckland to start afresh .
he married mary castleton osborne on 28 april 1915 and began working for another engineering and patents company owned by s. oldfield and d. b. hutton .
by august of the same year , he had bought into the firm , and it was renamed oldfield & henry .
within four years he owned the organisation outright and it became known as d. henry & co. .
henry expanded the business into a profitable small-scale plumbing manufacturer and supplier .
henry 's new zealand cousins -lrb- see henry family of new zealand -rrb- had been involved in the fledgingly timbermilling industry since their arrival in new zealand in the 1870s and in 1936 he was to play a pivotal role in the consolidation of the new zealand timber industry through his involvement in the merger of his extended family 's milling business with the afforestation company , new zealand perpetual forests -lrb- a large bond selling company that had established of timber plantations , but had gone bankrupt -rrb- .
henry struck a hard bargain in purchasing the new zealand perpetual forests assets and was made the chairman and managing director of the new company for his efforts .
this new company was new zealand forest products , which remained new zealand 's largest industrial concern and largest company until the privatisation of telecom new zealand in the 1990s .
in assuming the role of new zealand 's pre-eminent industrialist , henry was concerned with developing the future utilisation of the company 's forests .
sawmill technology for handling pinus radiata , and the commercial manufacture of pulp and paper from this species , was reasonably undeveloped worldwide .
he travelled extensively throughout the united states and europe to find the newest processing technology and fought a protracted battle with the new zealand government to overcome bureaucracy .
he was successful in convincing the government of the benefits of the company 's industrialisation and in 1941 opened the first large-scale sawmill and insulating board plant at penrose , auckland .
henry also clashed with the government over its plans to nationalise the new zealand timber industry to create an integrated state sector forest and timber manufacturing company .
this battle continued until the election of a national government in 1949 .
in 1943 sir david chose a mill site near tokoroa , near the company 's forest plantations .
he built kinleith mill -lrb- after a paper mill in scotland -rrb- , which was to become famous as new zealand 's largest industrial processing complex .
kinleith manufactured the first commercially produced kraft pulp in new zealand in 1953 .
it was the culmination of 17 years of effort by henry .
in 1954 he was made a kbe for his services to the new zealand exotic timber industry .
henry was very involved in the community .
he used his business success in auckland to become increasingly involved with a wide range of organisations , including the rotary club of auckland , the boy scouts ' association , the young men 's christian association -lrb- ymca -rrb- , the auckland manufacturers ' association -lrb- eventually becoming national president -rrb- , and he sat as an elected councillor on the auckland city council -lrb- from 1931 -- 33 -rrb- .
he was also well known for his philanthropy , endowing a forestry scholarship bearing his name in 1956 to provide overseas training for employees of new zealand forest products .
he also established a substantial trust for the auckland presbyterian orphanages and social service association -lrb- now known as presbyterian support -rrb- .
his wife died in 1954 , but the next year , sir david -lrb- aged 67 -rrb- married dorothy may osborne , the younger sister of his first wife .
even at the age of 67 , sir david showed no interest in retiring as chairman of new zealand forest products .
he continued to battle the government over industry licensing , but alarmingly also began to display increasingly erratic behaviour .
this is evidenced by his conduct in 1958 when he encouraged the british pulp and paper giant bowater paper corporation to make an unsuccessful takeover for new zealand forest products , and he began to make uncharacteristically rash statements to the national press .
despite being ill with a heart condition , henry continued to be active at the company , holding many meetings at his remuera residence , during which he was known to lash out verbally .
in his history of new zealand forest products , titled `` a hundred million trees '' , brian healy said `` sir david henry lacked warmth and humour in his working relations and tended to be abrupt and demanding with his subordinates .
yet he was a fluent and persuasive speaker whose self-assurance , business acumen and tenacity were vital in enabling new zealand forest products to overcome enormous barriers and to develop into one of the country 's largest industrial enterprises . ''
