Noted Rotorua academic, musician dies

Barry Smith.

Barry Smith, a noted academic and classical musician who has died in Rotorua, was not one to suffer fools gladly.

To a point. When forced, he was an articulate advocate at improving the circumstances of others through his altruistic approach to life.

Broadly built, almost disarmingly quietly spoken, and worldly, Barry Norman Poata Smith was a major influence in academic and musical life at which he was indeed polyphonic, in Rotorua.

Barry managed to combine his innate love of arts and music – he was for a time chairman of the Rotorua Civic Arts Trust - with his extensively qualified academic life.

Around the traps in Rotorua he needed little encouragement to play guitar, as which he was expert in any genre.

He was also instrumental in fashioning harmony for the brothers Edward – Dave, Stewart, Ian and Harry. He not only arranged the group's sessions or gigs, but often his nimble fingers provided backup guitar.

Stewart Edward, the chairman of the Rotorua Energy Charitable Trust, says his quartet had lost 'their mentor and musical inspiration”.

'Dr Smith was part of the family with his contribution as a musician and his musical direction over many years with the singing group. He was hugely loved by the family and will be sorely missed by us all.

'Barry Smith was also a wonderful contributor to the Rotorua music environment, providing leadership and musicianship in numerous musical genres throughout the city since his arrival in the city in the late 1970's.

'He also was an outstanding intellect with his recent contributions internationally and nationally regarding the topic of ethics in our country.

'He recently was the Population Health Analyst for the Lakes DHB and he had only just retired from that position. Barry had previously worked in the tertiary education and research sectors. His contribution to the nation was substantial and will be missed,” says Stewart.

Drippingly qualified, Barry Smith earned university degrees in, one, chemistry/mathematics/statistics; two, music; and, three, a PhD in sociology.

Deryck Shaw, a friend and chairman of the Lakes DHB in Rotorua, supplied Rotorua Now with the following detail:

'He was a respected member of the Lakes DHB staff and had professional work national and international reputations. He was very approachable and strongly committed to improving health outcomes in the Lakes community, particularly around Maori,” says Deryck.

'Barry had a very strong background in research, teaching in forestry, social sciences, education and health.

'Of Te Rarawa and Ngati Kahu descent, Barry … worked extensively in health analytics (focusing on health inequality) and health ethics with the Lakes District Health Board in Rotorua and retired from the DHB's Strategy, Planning and Funding team in December 2018.

'He formerly has worked as a contract analyst with the Ministry of Health and is associated with a number of Health Research Council, Royal Society of New Zealand Marsden Fund and New Zealand Lottery Board supported research studies in the areas of ethics, genomic research and smoking cessation.

'He had numerous publications include a recent book with Martin Tolich entitled The Politicisation of Ethics Review in New Zealand (Dunmore Publishing, 2015), the oft-cited multi-authored Te Ara Tika: Guidelines for Maori Research Ethics (HRC, 2010) and Te Mata Ira: Guidelines for Genomic Research with Maori (University of Waikato, 2016) plus chapters in a World Encyclopaedia of Ethics and books on research methods, researching with Maori and indigenous ethics.

'Barry was a member of the HRC Science Assessing Committees and that of the National Heart Foundation. He chaired the Ministry of Social Development Ethics Committee, the Lakes DHB Research and Ethics and Clinical Ethics Committees and was a previous Health and Disability Ethics Committee (HDEC) chair and chair of the Health Research Council Ethics Committee (HRC EC) from 2013-16.

'He was a member of the Advisory Committee on Assisted Reproductive Technology (ACART), the Auckland Regional Tissue Bank Governance Advisory Board and the Ageing Well Science Challenge Governance Board.

'He chaired the Royal Society of New Zealand Maori Reference Group that provides advice on indigenous matters to the Society's project on gene editing.

'Because of his expertise in population health analysis, health inequality and Maori health, Barry had recently been co-opted onto the Health and Quality Safety Commission's (HQSC) Perioperative Mortality Review Committee (POMRC) which is currently exploring the reasons for inequality in mortality rates post anaesthesia. He also worked with the Australasian Human Research Ethics Consultancy Services (AHRECS).

'A frequently invited presenter at health and ethics conferences, he presented at the 2016 World Health Organisation (WHO) and UNESCO Global Ethics Summit in Berlin and the WHO Asia-Pacific Regional Ethics Meeting held in Seoul in October 2017. Barry contributed to courses run by the Bioethics Centre of the University of Otago and coordinated Victoria University of Wellington's postgraduate Diploma of Clinical Research.

'He had just finished contributing to a rewrite of New Zealand's National Ethics Guidelines.

'He was awarded the Queen's Service Medal (QSM) in 2008 for his contributions to ethics and the performing arts.”

Barry Smith also had a long association with the Rotorua wananga.

The Lakes DHB says it will deeply miss their friend and colleague.

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