Dame Christine Cole Catley, New Zealand journalist, publisher and author, died from lung cancer she was 88.

Dame Christine McKelvie Cole Catley,   was a New Zealand journalist, publisher and author died from lung cancer she was 88. In 2006 she was awarded the Distinguished Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit for services to literature. In 2009 the award was redesignated Dame Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit (DNZM) after the New Zealand government decided to restore the titles of knights and dames to the honours system. She died 21 August 2011 from lung cancer aged 88.^[1][2]

(19 December 1922 – 21 August 2011)

She started working for the Taranaki Daily News while still at school and then The Press while she attended Canterbury University in Christchurch. She also wrote for the Labour Party's daily paper, The Southern Cross, the New Zealand Listener, Radio New Zealand and Australia's ABC Network. She was a member of the Broadcasting Council, but was removed by prime minister Robert Muldoon of the National Party. She also wrote for The Dominion (as Sam Cree) and for the Sunday Times.
While working as an advertising copywriter she coined the name Kiwi berry for Chinese gooseberries which evolved into kiwifruit.
She was instrumental in setting up memorials for writers Frank Sargeson (the Buddle Findlay Sargeson Fellowship) and Michael King.^[3]


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