John Hogan remembered as the man who brought Massey to Auckland

In 2012, former Auckland campus Founding Principal, Ian Watson summed up the enormous contribution Mr Hogan made to the 20-year project to develop a site at Albany, which officially opened in 1993.

“When Vice-Chancellor Sir Neil Waters first contemplated a campus at Albany, there was much basic information that needed to be found out. This included the amount of land available, the receptivity of the local City Council, the feasibility of building on the site and what kind of layout the campus might have. There was also the question of how many students the campus might attract, and what type of subjects the university might offer. All of this, including the eventual purchase of the land needed to be done in a strictly confidential way….It fell to John Hogan to carry out most of these preliminary explorations.”

Mr Hogan was appointed Director of Albany Campus Developments and Mr Watson described his “constructive and very professional manner” when acting as the intermediary between planners, engineers and academic groups during the development’s early stages.

Former colleague and current Principal Advisor Vice-Chancellor’s Office, Dale Parkes was first employed at Massey by Mr Hogan in 1984, and they worked together on projects until his retirement. She describes him as an outstanding strategic thinker who had the rare ability to not only envisage something, but also make it happen.

“John was responsible for all building developments, the servicing of the buildings and their occupants, student and capital funding and reporting, university strategy and organisational planning. He was also a very influential figure in Massey’s development and history. He held the pen on the university's inaugural Charter, the first Massey University Strategy and the first Statement of Objectives.”

Mr Hogan’s wife Joan also worked at Massey University in extramural studies, now known as distance education, for many years.

Their children, Sean, Carol and Patrick have extended a warm invitation to friends and former Massey colleagues to a memorial service being held in Cotton's Chapel, 697 Main Street, Palmerston North, at 10.30am on Monday, 23 February 2026.