Well-known Christchurch broadcaster and radio pioneer Morry Shanahan is being remembered as a passionate and talented teacher.

Shanahan died in New York earlier this week. He was aged in his 70s. 

Shanahan was one of the pioneers of Radio Avon in Christchurch, a highly popular station that hit the airwaves in the 1970s. 

"Because of his American accent, he added that extra flair,” said former colleague Gerard Duignan. 

Shanahan started teaching with Duignan at Christchurch Polytechnic in 1992, he said. 

Shanahan was a lecturer and programme leader for the Bachelor of Broadcasting Communications at the polytech for about 20 years, Duignan said. 

"So most presenters and producers and writers in commercial radio and non-commercial radio throughout New Zealand were trained through me but also with Morry and some others,” Duignan said. 

"I regarded him very highly. He was a highly successful and professional broadcaster, a very talented teacher, and a valued academic.

"He was a very enjoyable personality, with a hell of a lot of humour and laughs, but he also was congenial, he was collegial.

"He was highly regarded all around the country.”

His daughter Margot said she was heartbroken after her dad passed away.

"The man with nine lives finally used the last one. He was a kind, gentle soul with the best sense of humour bar none. To know him was to love him,” she said on social media.