Michael Cullen

Sir Michael John Cullen (5 February 1945 – 19 August 2021) was a New Zealand politician. He served as the 16th deputy prime minister of New Zealand, also as the minister of Finance, minister of Tertiary Education, and attorney-general. He was the deputy leader of the Labour Party from 1996 until November 2008, when he resigned following a defeat in the general election. He resigned from Parliament in April 2009, to become the deputy chairman of New Zealand Post from 1 November 2009 and chairman from 1 November 2010 until leaving the role in 2016. On 6 March 2020 he announced that he had resigned from the Lakes and Bay of Plenty district health boards, respectively. At the same time he also announced that he had been diagnosed with stage 4 small-cell lung cancer, which had also spread to his liver. Early life and education Cullen was born in Enfield in north London on 5 February 1945, the son of Ivy May Cullen (née Taylor) and John Joseph Thomas Cullen. His father was a spectacle frame maker and his mother was a secretary. He attended West Green and later North Harringay schools (both in Harringay) the latter of which was close to his maternal grandparents house. When his paternal grandmother died in 1953 his family received a modest inheritance and considered moving to a better house elsewhere in London before instead deciding to move to New Zealand. The family emigrated from Tottenham to New Zealand in 1955, where friends gave him the nick-name "Pom", and Cullen attended secondary school on a scholarship at Christ's College in Christchurch. He went on to study history at the University of Canterbury, earning a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1965, and a Master of Arts in 1968. His masters thesis was titled Poverty in London, 1885-95.