Vale Ed Boyd

Recently. more than 1000 people gathered at the Whanganui War Memorial Centre last week to farewell Ed Boyd, of Whanganui’s H&A Print, which he ran and owned with his wife and business partner Hinemoa.
 
One of the industry’s true gentlemen, Ed will be missed as a man who gave generously to the community in a number of ways: a Rotarian with the Rotary Club of Wanganui for more than 30 years; a life and committee member of the Wanganui Boy’s and Girl’s Gym Club; a trustee of the Waimarie River Boat, Wanganui Antiquities and the Wanganui Branch Manchester Lodge; and since 2013, Ed a Justice of the Peace.
 
He has a collection of beautiful cars and, for five years as chairman of the Vintage Car Club of Whanganui, he organised a new spare parts shed and initiated a revenue-generating scrap metal collection scheme. Ed had a great love for Whanganui and he sponsored the printing of many books, scholarships for UCOL students, and made numerous donations to helping agencies.
 
Only four days before he died, Ed learned that he had motor neurone disease.

Ed Boyd started in the print industry as an apprentice bookbinder at Meteor Print in 1968. In 1973, he was named New Zealand Bookbinder of the Year. He bought into in the print company Hanton and Andersen Print, which became H&A Print. Ed was in his 45th year at H&A Print when he died.

 
He also supported the New Zealand Printer Power 50 and, with Hinemoa, attended last year’s event in Auckland.
 
Hinemoa says, “One of the things that always amazes me about Ed was that he has the energy to be pulled in all directions and still be okay.”
 
He loved his home city. The following is an excerpt from a guest editorial Ed wrote for the Midweek Newspaper:
 
“Whanganui has always been a great place to live. It has a good, sometimes slightly windy climate, but it has lots of great people and more things to do than lots of other places in New Zealand.
 
“I have been privileged to have seen a lot of our city grow, for example, Kowhai Play Park, and being a kid when the Tot Town Railway was started and being on one of the first rides on opening day, seeing the Old Town Bridge close and going over the new one on its first open day.
 
“The Whanganui River has great interest from the mountain start all the way down to the sea. The river road is as great to travel along and we have some of the most wonderful sights in the world in this area.”
 
The team at H&A Print released this statement after Ed died
 
“Firstly, we would like to say a heartfelt thank you to the brave, thoughtful people that have stopped into H&A with kind words, cards, flowers and baking. It’s not an easy thing to do but we really appreciate it.
 
“Losing Ed has been a real shock. It’s been very difficult to deal with the grief and keep the place running but it’s what he would have wanted. H&A was such a huge part of Ed.
 
“He has some very longstanding staff and our work family will miss him dearly.
 
Hinemoa will continue to run H&A Print and will look forward to celebrating H&A Print’s 100th birthday in a few years.
 
Ed is survived by Hinemoa; daughter Natasha; son Kieran; and grandchildren Siobhan and Joss.