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Ron Gillatt lived a quiet life.
He rode his bike to work as a bank manager, caught the bus later in life and enjoyed simple day trips to Sumner with his wife, Joan.
He was also quietly amassing a fortune worth more than $60 million.
Joan died in 2020, and Ron followed in 2024, aged 83, leaving that fortune to be distributed through the Ron and Joan Gillatt Charitable Trust to 14 charities, churches, schools and community groups.
The biggest beneficiary is the Tramway Historical Society at Ferrymead, which will receive 20% of the trust’s proceeds.
For society president Jonathan Day, the bequest will allow projects that might otherwise have taken years of fundraising to happen much sooner.
“Instead of taking five or 10 years to raise money to restore something, we can do that a lot quicker,” Day said.
Ron got his first shares in the Colonial Motor Company as a gift from an aunt he used to deliver eggs to when he was 19.
It was the beginning of an investment journey that would eventually make him very wealthy.
After starting work at BNZ in Riccarton, he began putting money aside and investing in equities. He later moved to the bank’s city branch and then into international banking.
He remained an active investor into the 2000s, building shareholdings in dozens of businesses and start-ups, including Syft Technologies, food-tech company Veritide and med-tech business Objective Acuity.
Those who knew him had little idea of just how much he had accumulated.
“There was always speculation that Ron’s got a few bob, you know, that sort of thing. It wasn’t until his later years that we sort of had a bit more of a picture,” said Ron’s cousin-in-law Kathy Gillatt.
“It came out of the blue for them,” she said of the charities and organisations that discovered they were beneficiaries.
“It was just typical of Ron. We were like, ‘Well, Ron, do you not want to get some credit while you’re alive?’ But it was almost like he wanted this ‘ta-da!’,” she said.
Ron’s father, Charles Henry Gillatt, was a World War 1 veteran and market gardener in Halswell and the namesake of Gillatt Gardens, a small cul-de-sac in the suburb.
Ron spent his primary school years at Halswell School, where he was dux in 1952, before moving to Christchurch West High School, now Hagley Community College, in 1953.
“We are country people, and he (Ron) has evolved from a country lifestyle. He was the child of old parents who had known very tough times. He would have had the fear put into him about money,” Kathy said.
Ron was also bank manager for Tait Electronics and developed a close relationship with its founder, Angus Tait. He later became a trustee of the Tait Foundation.
Ron admired legendary American investor Warren Buffett and was even cremated with a copy of The Essays of Warren Buffett: Lessons for Corporate America.
“We used to laugh about that. He admired the man because he felt a kinship,” Kathy said.
“One of the things he picked up from Warren is – you’ll notice that (Ron’s) trustees and his lawyer are all female. Warren Buffett said never underestimate a woman’s brain and Ron was exactly the same.”
Wynn Williams partner Annabel Sheppard is a trustee of the Ron and Joan Gillatt Charitable Trust, which she helped establish in 2001.
Ron and Joan did not have children, but Sheppard told the NZ Herald they had established a legacy that would last forever.
Two-thirds of the trust’s surpluses are reinvested, with the remaining third distributed annually to its nominated charities and community groups.
If the investments continue to perform well, the trust’s capital and annual distributions will grow over time.
Kathy said the beneficiaries were chosen because of the couple’s personal connections.
The Tramway Historical Society was one of them, which she believes may have been linked to Ron’s childhood memories of trips to Sumner.
Ron and Joan continued to make day trips to their Sumner holiday home later in life.
The Christchurch City Mission, Canterbury Charity Hospital Trust and Fred Hollows Foundation will each receive 10% of the trust’s proceeds.
St John, Nurse Maude, Hagley Community College and Christian broadcaster Rhema Media are among five other beneficiaries that will each receive 5%.
For the Tramway Historical Society, the money will make a significant difference.
“To restore a tram is anywhere between half a million and a million, and hundreds of hours of volunteer labour,” Day said.
“This gives us the opportunity to move timelines forward.”
The money could also help protect the society’s heritage collection by building bigger sheds and repairing existing ones so all its trams can be kept under cover.
“We didn’t expect this. We just got a phone call from the trustees to say, ‘Hey, we’ve set this thing up, and you guys are the beneficiary’.”
When asked about his initial reaction to the bequest, Day said: “Well, you can imagine.”
RON AND JOAN GILLATT CHARITABLE TRUST BENEFICIARIES
• Tramway Historical Society – 20%
• Christchurch City Mission – 10%
• Canterbury Charity Hospital Trust – 10%
• Fred Hollows Foundation – 10%
• Hato Hone St John – 5%
• Nurse Maude – 5%
• Hagley Community College – 5%
• Riccarton High School – 5%
• Cat Protection League – 5%
• Halswell Community Hall – 5%
• St Mary’s Anglican Church, Halswell – 5%
• St Columba's Anglican Church – 5%
• Garden City Model Railway Club – 5%
• Rhema Media – 5%