Ray Fargher, who was a pioneering researcher of early European interaction with Maori, has died aged 91.
Mr Fargher spent 60 years researching and writing a biography of Donald McLean, who was the Crown's Maori land buyer in the 1840s and 50s.
His book arising from that research work, The Best Man Who Ever Served the Crown? was published in 2007 and launched by the then Prime Minister Helen Clark.
It was one of the Sunday Star Times' books of the year for 2007.
Mr Fargher was a history teacher and a teacher union organiser.
