Rob Fyfe: Michael Hill chair on the death of business icon Sir Michael Hill

Kiwi business icon Sir Michael Hill is being remembered as one-of-a-kind.

He died today aged 86, after a cancer battle.

He opened his first jewellery store in Whangārei and grew the brand globally to Australia and Canada.

He's well-known for his championship Queenstown golf course 'the Hills' and for founding an international violin competition.

Company chair Rob Fyfe says Hill was always a student and never stopped learning.

"Whatever he turned his mind to, he brought a vision, a creativity, a sense of aesthetic and design."

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Heather dud for see Ellen very sad news through out
of the passing of a huge New Zealand icon, Sir
Michael Hill now Sir Michael, opened his first jewelry store
in nineteen seventy nine. He set himself a goal of
opening seven stores and seven years and today there are
more than three hundred stores across Australia, New Zealand and Canada.
Rob Fife is the chair of Michael Hill Hey Rob Hey,
Heather Rob very very sad Dave for you guys. Obviously

(00:22):
he was quite remarkable when you think about it, wasn't.

Speaker 2 (00:25):
He He was incredibly sad. I feel it's left a
messive hole in my life. And I know, you know
there's many people. I mean, he's a dedicated family man,
and you know, the family of doing it really really
tough at the moment. But he was a truly unique human.

(00:47):
You know, he opened his first store, as you mentioned,
you know, when he was forty, so he reinvented himself
as an entrepreneur when many people are already kind of
at the peak of whatever career they're in, and he
headed off in this direction that it's so driven yet's
so creative, and I think. You know, my wife Sarah

(01:13):
sunded it up. She's saying to me yesterday. You know,
he was always a student. He never never stopped learning.
And I look at him around the board table at
Michael Hill. He was always the most open minded, the
one that was the most curious around new ideas. He
never had that mindset of I've done it all, I've

(01:37):
kind of I know all the answers. He's always looking
for new ideas. Truly truly inspiring human.

Speaker 1 (01:43):
Does his absence change the way that the company will run,
all the direction that the company will take?

Speaker 2 (01:50):
No, No, not at all. In fact, kind of quite
the opposite. In many ways, he touched so many of
the three thousand odd people we have a Michael Hill
truly feel like that part of his extended family. And
I think the motivation to do justice to his legacy

(02:11):
and what he stood for in his vision for jewelry.
I mean when Michael started, I remember my parents. You know,
jewelry was something that mum had a pair of ear
rings and maybe a necklace and a wedding ring and
an engagement ring, and you know that that was kind
of it. And he brought jewelry and made it accessible

(02:33):
to everyday people. And you know, he changed, he changed
what jewelry meant for so many people in New Zealand
and then Australia and then Canada. And he had a
vision that no one had back in those days. It's
remarkable what he's achieved. And that's you know, what he's
achieved with the violin competition, what he achieved with his

(02:56):
golf course. I mean, whatever he turned his mind to,
he bought a vision, a creativity, a sense of aesthetic
and design. Well an he touched so many people's books.
You know, I'm getting messages from people I don't know
saying that you know, they read Michael's book and that
inspired their direction in life and so on. It's a phenomenal,

(03:19):
phenomenal man.

Speaker 1 (03:20):
Rob, thank you for having a chat to us. Go
while getting home for the funeral. That's Rob Fife, Michael
Hill's chair. For more from Heather Duplessy Allen Drive, listen
live to news Talks. It'd be from four pm weekdays,
or follow the podcast on iHeartRadio.