The Right Honourable Sir Anand Satyanand GNZM QSO KStJ |
|
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19th Governor-General of New Zealand | |
In office 23 August 2006 – 23 August 2011 |
|
Monarch | Elizabeth II |
Prime Minister |
Helen Clark John Key |
Preceded by | Silvia Cartwright |
Succeeded by | Jerry Mateparae |
Personal details | |
Born |
Auckland, New Zealand |
22 July 1944
Spouse(s) | Susan Sharpe, QSO |
Alma mater | University of Auckland |
Profession |
Lawyer Judge Ombudsman |
Religion | Roman Catholicism |
Sir Anand Satyanand GNZM QSO KStJ (born 22 July 1944) is a former lawyer, judge and ombudsman. He was the 19th Governor-General of New Zealand. He is currently Chair of the Commonwealth Foundation.
Satyanand was born and raised in Auckland to an Indo-Fijian family in 1944. His grandparents arrived in Fiji from India in 1911, and were married on Nukulau Island. His father, Mutyala Satyanand OBE, a medical doctor, was born in Sigatoka in 1913 and arrived in New Zealand in 1927 to attend high school. His mother Tara Tillak was a nurse from Suva. She married his father after moving to New Zealand.
Satyanand attended Sacred Heart College in Auckland, and then moved to Dunedin to take a medical intermediate course at the University of Otago. He was not successful in gaining entry to the medical school and later said "...in reality I did not do well enough ... (but)... Looking back over that year, I remembered that one of the things I had really enjoyed was the debating and forum meetings involving students." So instead he took up law, graduating with a Bachelor of Laws from the University of Auckland in 1970. He worked as a lawyer for the next 12 years, initially for Greig, Bourke and Kettelwell. Later he worked as a barrister for the Crown Law Office. He served on the Council of the Auckland District Law Society from 1979 until his appointment as a judge of the District Court of New Zealand in 1982.