Profile of a New New Zealander

Denis Adam is one of the more colourful post-World War II immigrants to New Zealand. German Jewish ancestry, he was educated in Scotland and England, fought as a fighter-bomber pilot in the RAF during World War II under a New Zealand commanding officer, and after the war sought his fortune in New Zealand, arriving with six pound in his pocket. After working in a factory and in a service station he embarked on a business career which bought him sufficient wealth to become a leading philanthropist, particularly in the field of the arts.

His life-story spans an early childhood in Germany where as a nine-year-old he had a fist fight with a member of the Hitler Youth, happy school days in Britain, an involuntary sojourn in the Isle of Man, some hair-raising experiences as a Typhoon pilot in the Second Tactical Air Force and after World War II his life in New Zealand.
His business career makes interesting reading, proving that New Zealand continues to be a land of opportunity.

For the past twenty years he and his wife Verna through the Adam Foundation have contributed to the development of the arts in New Zealand.

Denis Adam was awarded an O.B.E. in 1993.

- from the dust jacket.