Wellington identity Bill Brien dies Celebrated Wellington publican, policeman and rugby stalwart Bill Brien has died aged 73.
Mr Brien, who witnessed New Zealand's last execution in 1957 and ran the city's Rose and Crown pub for 19 years, was renowned for his community work.
He was awarded Rotary International's highest award in 2000 and made a member of the New Zealand Order of Merit in 2008. He suffered a stroke in late 2008, and died on Sunday night.
Francie Russell, his partner of 16 years, described Mr Brien as a "very generous person" who loved Wellington. He helped numerous city community and sporting organisations through his long-term role as a trustee with Pub Charity.
He is survived by two children from a previous relationship, daughter Josephine Brien, 46, and son John Brien, 43. "We'll all miss him very much," Ms Russell said.
Mr Brien grew up on a dairy farm near Thames and joined the police at the urging of a local officer. After only a year in the job, he had to assist at the 1957 hanging of Walter James (Jim) Bolton, the last man executed by New Zealand.
He still felt ambivalent about it when he spoke to The Dominion Post in 2005. "There are a lot of people who should be taken completely out of society, but whether the death sentence is the way to do that, I don't know," he said.
After being involved in two shootings in the 1960s, one of which left him wounded, he wrote a report that led to the founding of the armed offenders squad.
Later he became a publican, first with a syndicate that owned the Brunswick Arms, where he was almost 30 years ahead of his time when he trialled a smoking ban in 1976. He then became the face of the Rose and Crown - a watering hole for former All Blacks and a goldmine of sports memorabilia.
On the corner of Willis and Williston streets, it closed in 2003.
Mr Brien belonged to the New Zealand Sports Hall of Fame, the Halberg Trust, the Wellington Rugby Union and Athletics Wellington.
"Now that I'm retired, I have never been so bloody busy, but I wouldn't have it any other way," he told The Dominion Post in 2008.
He was a repeated finalist in Wellingtonian of the Year awards and a Rotary member for nearly 40 years.
He was the first and only patron of the Centurions Rugby Football Club, a group of devoted Wellington rugby followers. President John Burrows said his death had left a huge hole in Wellington's rugby scene. "I can't speak highly enough of him. He did so much for rugby."
Mick Bremner said Mr Brien, his friend of 50 years, had a knack of drawing people in, while still being "self-effacing".
Hospitality Association chief executive Bruce Robertson said: "He was an extraordinary bloke." Mr Brien was a publican who "knew everybody".
His funeral service will be at the Wellington Football Club, Hataitai Park, at 2pm on Friday.
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