Mr Norgate's son Jordan, who lives in London according to his Facebook page, has confirmed his father's death.
Fairfax media reported that Mr Norgate died in the UK this morning (local time) at the age of 50.
Craig Norgate was born in Hawera in 1965 and studied at Massey University before taking up a management role at the Department of Maori Affairs when he was 21.
Other roles include working for Taranaki meat company Lowe Walker, the Lactose Company and Kiwi Dairy.
Mr Norgate was chief executive of Fonterra from 2001 to 2003 and afterwards headed PGG Wrightson for six years.
He was chief executive of the New Zealand Institute of Chartered Accountants from the end of 2012 for a year before leading the transformation of the Chartered Accountants Australia & New Zealand.
The two bodies from the two countries had merged.
In 2005, Mr Norgate won the New Zealand Herald Business Leader of the Year award and in 2008 received the World Class New Zealander award, from Kea New Zealand, for business and finance.
He was reportedly New Zealand's first CEO on a million dollar salary.
Mr Norgate was also a former director of the New Zealand Rugby Football Union, and on the Taranaki Rugby Football Union.
Just a month ago he wrote a column for Taranaki Daily News about why the Chiefs "belong to Taranaki".
Mr Norgate was a director and had invested in the Chiefs.
Mr Norgate was married to Jane, and had three children - Dylan, Alexandria and Jordan.
