Bruce CATO Obituary

Condolences to the Cato family on the loss of Bruce - another Ponsonby lad gone. On behalf of Oonagh Mead (nee Davidson and fellow Ponsonby-ite)

Bruce was always a genial, approachable, agreeable chap who would gladly share his substantial knowledge of the world and of basic civil engineering.
Just one example : at the 1975 request of the Auckland branch of the Institution of Engineers, he accepted chairmanship of a representative investigatory panel on the rise in section prices compared with incomes, due not to their engineering (as publicly blamed) but to new requirements for including infrastructure beyond subdivisional boundaries. Councils had been set up in the first place to provide such infrastructure to be funded by the wider community, ie by levying rates. Typically, he did an outstanding job. His committee first organised a competition to engineer a subdivision using low-cost methods, which attracted over 30 entries. On that basis that committee produced an optimally-flexible Code of Practice subsequently adopted by almost all local bodies in Auckland (32 at the time). This CoP was then adopted as NZS4404 by Standards of New Zealand; its application enabled section costs to sink back to previous levels of half a 20% annual income for a basic section fully engineered to be economically sustainable. (Todays version of NZS4404 includes for social and environmental aspirations, adding costs and benefits to reflect "world's best practice".)

We would like to convey our sincere sympathy to Bruce's family on his recent passing to sail in other waters.
Bruce was one of the longest serving members of the Classic Yacht Association of NZ, membership #33 being one of our very first members.

Fair winds and following seas Bruce, we will remember you

Chair, Committee and members of the CYA