Ian Hunter

Rear Admiral Ian Alexander Hunter (23 October 1939 – 8 December 2022) was an officer of the Royal New Zealand Navy, who served as Chief of Naval Staff from March 1991 to April 1994.

Biography Born in Dunedin on 23 October 1939, Hunter was educated at Christchurch Boys' High School. He joined the navy as a midshipman in 1957, and trained at the Britannia Royal Naval College, Dartmouth. He served in various Royal Navy submarines and New Zealand naval ships, and in exchange postings with the Royal Navy on shore and at sea. He qualified as a submarine watch officer, an anti-submarine warfare specialist, and a naval diver. During the summer of 1962–1963 he was in the Antarctic and then served in HMNZS Rotoiti as navigating and communications officer.

Hunter was promoted to rear admiral and appointed Chief of Naval Staff with effect from 29 March 1991. He served in that role until retiring on 8 April 1994.

Following his retirement from the navy, Hunter was a trustee of the Wellington Civic Trust, serving as chair from 1996 to 1999, and then deputy chair until 2004. Between 1994 and 2001, he was a trustee of the Wellington Museums Trust. Hunter was patron of the Wellington branch of the Royal New Zealand Returned and Services' Association.

Honours and awards In 1990, Hunter received the New Zealand 1990 Commemoration Medal.