Honorary Fellow and alumnus Sir Colin Maiden dies, aged 91

It is with sadness that Exeter College reports the news of the death of Sir Colin Maiden, alumnus and Honorary Fellow of Exeter, on 31 July, aged 91.

Colin Maiden came to Exeter in 1955 from his native New Zealand – where he had earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees in engineering at Auckland University College.  During two years at Exeter, where he was a Rhodes Scholar, he completed a DPhil in Engineering and won a Blue in tennis.

Colin Maiden then pursued a highly successful research and management career in Canada and the USA, interspersed with a period as a senior lecturer in mechanical engineering at his alma mater, by then the University of Auckland.  In 1971 he returned there as Vice-Chancellor.  On appointment the youngest vice-chancellor in the Commonwealth, he held the post, with great distinction and with impact on public life as well as on higher education, until 1994.  Having received in 1986 the Thomson Medal of the Royal Society of New Zealand, he was knighted in 1992 for services to education and to business management.

In retirement Sir Colin served on many private sector boards and published an autobiography (An Energetic Life, 2008).  He is survived by three daughters and a son.  His wife Jenefor, whom he had married in 1957, died in 2022.

Sir Colin Maiden pictured with his wife, Jenefor