DEATH AT 90

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXVII, Issue 23639, 24 April 1940, Page 11

DEATH AT 90

HE. A. S. PATEESON record in business GIFTS TO KNOX COLLEGE [BY TELfcCHAPII —OWN COHRESPONDENT] DUXF.WN, Tuesday The donth occurred .this morning of Mr. Alexander Stroriaou'Pa'terson, aged 90, one of the bost known and most successful of Durmdin business inch. Born in 1849. ZVTr. Paterson received most of liis education in Ireland, and lie was 17 years of age when- lie came to Otago. His first work here was in the employ of W. and J. Scoular for a short time, then with John and James H.. Barr," warehousemen, and lie was still a young man when lie became a salesman for Ilusseli, .Ritchie and Company, under Mr. J. M. Ritchie. It was out of that firm that the National Mortgage and Agency Company, Limited, was formed,, and Mr. Paterson continued the connection, first as a salesman and then as a local manager.

In 1886 Mr. Paterson began busipess on his own account. He took a prominent part in the initiation of the frozen meat industry, and was in the service of the National Mortgage and Agency Company when it loaded the ship Dunedin with the first meat cargo from Port Chalmers in 1882. He was a former president of the Dunedin Chamber of Commerce and was made a life member in 1924.

Some years ago Mr. Paterson made a gift to the city of a large organ for the new Town Hall, and his private benefactions covered a wide range. A staunch Presbyterian, ho was a generous supporter of Knox College, and he supplied the library of that institution with modern books and also with suitable bookcases. The A. S. Paterson library is probably the most complete and valuable of its kind in New Zealand, comprising about 4000 volumes. Mr. Paterson married Mis-s Jean l.*orsvtli, who belonged to a West Coast family. There were four children. The sons are Mr. John Rutherford Paterson, of Dunedin, and Mr. Stronach Paterson, of Wellington.