When Leith Comer picks up his jacket and satchel on 28 September and leaves his office on the 10th floor of Te Puni Kōkiri House for the last time, it’ll bring down the curtain on more than 40 years of public service. A career that began in 1966 when as a 17 year old he enlisted in the air force, spent 21 years in the military; followed by eight years in the private consultancy sector including some iwi work, and five years chairing Lakeland Health that delivered health services to Rotorua and Taupō. That was followed by a four-year stint with the Ministry of Economic Development and then 12 years with Te Puni Kōkiri.

There has been community and voluntary work too; but it all began with a shaky start.

Leith’s dad – Purei Fraser – a veteran of the 28th (Māori) Battalion, died when Leith was only two years old. His mother Maude was left to raise Leith and his older sister. Maude was also hapu at the time; a younger sister was born eight months after Purei died.

The Fraser’s were living in Matatā, fortunately Maude’s parents lived there too and the fatherless family moved in with them. With a smile in his voice Leith recalls thinking they were the richest family in town, with this big two storeyed house and a truck for transport.

Later he realised that the second storey was just the attic, and when his grandfather Cecil Davis gave up his job as the local rabbit board inspector, the truck went back to the board and they ended up walking like everyone else.

The family’s fortunes took a turn for the better when Maude met and married Stan Comer. He was a builder in Kawerau, he not only married Maude, but also adopted the three children, raised them and gave them his name - Comer.

In 1957, the family moved from Kawerau to Papatoetoe where Stan got work helping to build the suburbs to house the tens of thousands of people who became part of the urban drift from the country to South Auckland.

Leith recalls his growing up in Papatoetoe with great affection. He was given a good education in good state schools; he enjoyed all the sporting activities that came his way – golf, cricket, and rugby. He had money in his pocket too; there was always a job – a paper run, milk run and the freezing works.

Then in 1966 he joined the air force.

“There wasn’t any great discussion about it or reason, I guess it was in my blood. Both my grandfathers served in the First World War. My father and my uncles served in World War Two. It was my turn.”

With hindsight he reckons he was probably a little immature. He underwent pilot training but discovered he didn’t have the precision required to become a good pilot; so he switched and followed his forebears into the army.

The switch was a success, army life suited officer cadet Comer.

His officer and leadership training began at Portsea Officer Cadet School in Australia.

Later in his army career, Leith would command the New Zealand Officer Cadet Unit, at a time when it began training women officers, something the Australian school didn’t do.

He went on to serve in the Multinational Peacekeeping Force in the Sinai desert, preserving the peace between Egypt and Israel. He concedes it was a quiet tour of duty.

“I enjoyed the physical side of soldiering and I went through all the command levels - platoon commander, company commander and achieved my ambition of commanding a regular force battalion. I also became interested in the intellectual side of warfare.”

Something he was able to study up close while he was an exchange officer at the United States Infantry Centre, and a student at the United States Army General Staff College, where he passed with distinction and won the Eisenhower Award for the top foreign student.

His final job in the army was commander of the Ready Reaction Force, a Battalion with 700 personnel, the army’s biggest unit. By now he was Lt-Colonel Leith Comer.

“After 21 years I had a choice, I was commanding the biggest single unit in the army. From there the career path was to a staff role in Wellington. It was a good time to leave.”

On civvy street Leith established Fraser Consultants, which specialised in Māori Development Strategic Consultancy services. He also gained private sector experience on Boards like Lakeland Health, which he chaired for five years. During this phase of his life he re-established contact with former army colleague Wira – now Sir Harawira Gardiner - who was working at the Iwi Transition Agency, which was working though the process which saw the shutdown of the Department of Māori Affairs and the development of a Ministry of Māori Affairs.

In 1997 Leith moved back into the public service as a Deputy Secretary of the Ministry of Commerce; where he remained for four years before taking the role of Chief Executive Officer at Te Puni Kōkiri.

“I have been privileged to have had this role for the last 12 years. There have been a number of significant developments in that time:

The development of Māori Television, launching the Māori Trust Office as a stand-alone entity, and Māori doing business in China.

A number of major Treaty of Waitangi settlements have been concluded and we have seen Iwi step up and play a greater role in the affairs of the country. In fact there is little that can be achieved in New Zealand unless Māori are willing and active participants.

There is ongoing development in the economic strength of Māori and that will continue.

Many people have helped me along the way, I’m thinking of my uncle Bishop Manu Bennett who kept me grounded by allowing me to carry his luggage; but there are two former colleagues who were a great help to me as I was learning the ropes in the civil service – Tā Harawira Gardiner, and Paul Carpinter a former Deputy Secretary of Treasury and Chief Executive of the Ministry of Commerce. I owe them special thanks.

For me it’s been a great leadership role, but it is time to hand over to someone else. While I will be exiting the public service on 28 September, I will not be retiring; instead I’ll be looking for new challenges in the private and iwi sectors.

However there is one thing I’m really looking forward to --- and that’s not having to put a tie on every day.”