Jack Marshall

New Zealand politician, National Party Prime Minister from 2/07/1972 to 12/08/1972. He retired from Parliament in 1975 after 29 years government service. He was Deputy Leader or Leader of the National Party for 17 years, a Minister for 20 of those years and held 20 different portfolios over that time. Jack Marshall attended Whangarei High School, Otago Boys’ High School to 1930, then Victoria University, where he graduated with a BA, LLB and finally LLM. Becoming a barrister and solicitor in 1936, he was a law lecturer at Victoria University from 1948 to 1951. Before WW II he traveled abroad in Europe and the US and returned to New Zealand in 1940 to enlist. He was commissioned and served with the 36th Battalion in the Pacific, seeing active duty in the Solomon islands campaign. A Major in 1944, he was second in command of the 35th Infantry Battalion. He also fought in 1945 in the final Italian campaign. In 1946, Marshall was elected MP for Mt. Victoria, holding that seat until 1954 when he became MP for Kaori until 1975. After National became Government in 1949 he was appointed Minister assisting the Prime Minister and in 1951 became Minister of Health. After the 1954 he became Attorney-General and Minister of Justice and then when Holland stood down for Holyoake he briefly became Deputy Prime Minister. National lost in 1957 but was re-elected in 1960 and Marshall was again Deputy Prime Minister and also Minister of Overseas Trade and Industry & Commerce. He kept these portfolios through most of the Holyoake Government. He negotiated NZ access to the EEC, signing the Australia Free Trade Agreement in 1965, leading to the CER (Closer Economic Relations ) still in force. Marshall was a ardent Christian, active in the Presbyterian Church and was President of the NZ Bible Society and World Vice-President of the United Bible Societies. As an author, Marshall published a law book, several children’s books and his memoirs. He died on 8/30/1988 of a heart attack. He was in England at the time en route to the World Council of the United Bible Society. Link to Wikipedia biography