Fred Glasse

Alfred Onslow Glasse (4 December 1889 – 13 December 1977) was a New Zealand electrical engineer and local-body politician. He was chief engineer of the Auckland Electric Power Board for 29 years, and served as president of the New Zealand Institution of Engineers in 1942–43. Glasse was later elected as an Auckland City Councillor, and was deputy mayor from 1962 to 1970.

Biography Early life Glasse was born in Dunedin in 1889 and was educated at Otago Boys' High School, Dunedin Technical College and then the University of Otago.

He trained as an engineer and travelled to Britain to gain further experience at the Thomson-Houston Electric Company, a large firm of electrical engineers. During World War I he enlisted in the New Zealand Expeditionary Force in 1914 and was awarded the Military Cross and mentioned in dispatches. Following the war he returned to work with the same firm.

Career In 1922 the Thomson-Houston Company secured a contract for the supply of machinery and equipment to the Auckland City Council. Glasse was assigned back to New Zealand as the company's supervising engineer where he led the installation work of the new machinery. In 1953, he was awarded the Queen Elizabeth II Coronation Medal.

Political involvement Following his retirement from engineering, Glasse became involved in civic affairs in Auckland. In the 1956 local elections, he was elected as a member of the Auckland City Council on a Citizens & Ratepayers ticket. Between 1962 and 1970 he served as Deputy Mayor of Auckland City. Glasse supported mayor Dove-Myer Robinson's local government reforms to establish the Auckland Regional Authority. He was also a member of the Auckland Metropolitan Drainage Board and the Harbour Bridge Authority, finally retiring from public office in 1976. 1963 saw him being appointed as an Officer of the Most Venerable Order of the Hospital of Saint John of Jerusalem.

Death and legacy He died on 13 December 1977, aged 88.

The Alfred O. Glasse Award, an annual award by the New Zealand Planning Institute to recognise services to planning by non-planners, is named in Glasse's honour.