The patriarch behind one of New Zealand’s most well-recognised wine labels has passed away aged 93 years after a battle with cancer. Assid Corban was the first New-Zealand born grandson of Lebanese immigrants who settled in West Auckland in 1902. He would later go on to have a colourful career in local body politics, serving as Mayor of Henderson from 1974 to 1989, when local body reforms meant that the position was merged into Waitakere City – where Corban would serve as Mayor from 1989 to 1992.
"I have bottles of that wine made 93 years ago, celebrating the birth of the first Corban grandson,” he said earlier this year. “I have the history of the Corban family.”
Corban was an ‘ideas man’ and held a passion for helping the community.
"All the marvellous things that West Auckland has - the swimming complex, the squash club, the libraries, the world bowls complex - all those things were done when I was mayor," he said. He long held a fear that Henderson would lose its character if not looked after properly.
"I'd be horrified if the vineyards disappear as a result of careless industrial or housing development," he said. "This aspect of our way of life is something that can't be measured in monetary terms."
Corban often admitted that he had given up a “small fortune” in choosing to enter politics rather than run the family wine business. Corban's grandfather established the wine empire in 1992, and was the first commercial vineyard in New Zealand.
