Brown Turei

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William Brown Turei ONZM (12 December 1924 – 9 January 2017) was a Māori Anglican leader in New Zealand. He served as Archbishop and Primate of Aotearoa, New Zealand and Polynesia, and as the senior bishop of the Māori church. From 2006 he shared leadership with two other bishops, but by 2008 he was the de facto sole Archbishop, with his colleagues as co-presiding bishops.

Born in Ōpōtiki, Turei spent part of his childhood with the Waititi and Turei families. He went to Te Aute College, studied briefly in Christchurch, and then joined the 28 Maori Battalion in World War II. After the war he studied at St John’s College, Auckland, and was ordained a priest in 1950.

Turei worked in many Māori and general parishes, including Tauranga, Whangara, Te Puke, Whakatāne, Manutuke, Christchurch and Waipatu. He became Archdeacon of Tairāwhiti in 1982 and was closely involved with Hukarere Girls College as a chaplain, as well as serving as chaplain at Napier Prison.

In 1992 he was elected Bishop of Te Tai Rāwhiti. In 2005 he was chosen to succeed Whakahuihui Vercoe as Pīhopa o Aotearoa (Senior Bishop of Tikanga Māori). In 2006 the church adopted the arrangement of three co-equal primates; by 2008 Turei was the de jure Archbishop, with Moxon and Bryce as co-presiding bishops.

In 2016 he was made an Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit for services to the Anglican Church. He announced his retirement in 2016 and planned to step down as Māori archbishop in 2017, but he died in Gisborne on 9 January 2017 at the age of 92. He was married to Mihi (née King) and they had three children.