Roderick Grahame Gunn
6299 Aged 72
Rod was born in Gisborne to Alan and Constance Eileen (nee Rogers) Gunn. After attending primary school in Gisborne, Rod went to Christ’s College, like his father before him. The standard method of travel in those days was to board a train to Wellington, take the overnight ferry to Lyttelton and then the train to Christchurch – quite the journey for young boys! Rod was in Jacobs House from 1957 to 1961. He loved rugby and was the hooker in the 1st XV in 1961. He also excelled in academics and was a very decent artist. After College, Rod crossed the street and attended the University of Canterbury for four years. He graduated with a first class honours degree in English and won a Commonwealth Scholarship to pursue a PhD in English Literature at the University of Cambridge. Using again the standard mode of transportation, he caught a ship in 1966 for the UK via the Suez Canal – travel then had its perks! Although he returned many times to visit, he never lived in New Zealand again. Rod was in Cambridge for a number of years before deciding that academia was not where he wanted to be. Computers seemed to be a sign of the future, so he moved to London to study programming. During this time, Rod reconnected with Linda Terpenning, an American studying at Canterbury when he was there, and they married in London in 1973.
Some years later, after the birth of their daughter, Rod was made an offer he couldn’t refuse at a company in the Philadelphia area. They pulled up stakes in London and moved to the US where they lived for the next 36 years. Rod first worked for a company involved in collecting data for the healthcare industry and then for one of the first e-commerce companies in the world. He became an expert in data warehousing. After retiring in 2010 Rod’s final years were difficult. Nevertheless, he continued to travel, read, garden and enjoy the company of friends and family. He died in January 2017, a week shy of his 73rd birthday. He is survived by his wife of 43 years, two children – Imogen (Ely, UK) and Hamish (Boston, USA), three sisters – Fran, Sally and Brigit (New Zealand) and many nephews and nieces on both sides of the Pacific. Rod was a good friend to those who knew him. He had friends from all times and parts of his life, including many from College. He is sorely missed by those who loved him.
Chronicle 2017
23
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