Caterina De Nave

Caterina Maria De Nave (23 February 1947 – 17 August 2014) was a New Zealand television and film producer, director, and media executive. She was the first woman to head a department at Television New Zealand (TVNZ) and one of the creators of New Zealand's longest-running soap, Shortland Street.

Biography De Nave was born on 23 February 1947, the daughter of Joseph and Dulcie De Nave, and grew up in Wellington; her father had emigrated to New Zealand from Stromboli, Italy, as a teenager. Her first role in the television industry was in Auckland in the early 1970s, as a script editor on the children's programme Play School. In 2009, she received the Great Southern Film & Television Award for Outstanding Contribution to the New Zealand Screen Industry at the Women in Film and Television New Zealand Awards.

In 2008, De Nave was named Industry Champion at the 2008 SPADA Screen Industry Awards (Screen Production and Development Association, New Zealand).

Death De Nave lived with leukemia for 15 years. She died of the disease at Royal North Shore Hospital, Sydney on 17 August 2014, aged 67. On her death, many prominent New Zealanders paid tribute to her, including former Prime Minister Helen Clark, who described De Nave as a "major force in [the] New Zealand screen industry for decades".