Supporters of the Timaru businessman Allan Hubbard have expressed shock and disbelief at his death following a road crash.
The couple's car, driven by Mr Hubbard's 82-year-old wife Jean, collided head-on with a four-wheel-drive about five kilometres north of Oamaru on Friday afternoon.
Mr Hubbard, 83, suffered multiple injuries in the accident. He was taken to Oamaru Hospital, then airlifted to Dunedin Hospital, where his death was confirmed at 7pm on Friday.
Supporters say Mrs Hubbard, who is also in Dunedin Hospital, with broken ribs, is aware her husband has died.
The 40-year-old driver of the other vehicle was treated in hospital and discharged.
Due to face 50 fraud charges
Mr Hubbard had been due in court next month to answer 50 charges of fraud laid by the Serious Fraud Office following an investigation into failed companies he ran.
The SFO has expressed its sincere condolences at his death.
He had also been due to appear in the High Court in Timaru next Wednesday to make an application to remove the statutory management under which his and Mrs Hubbard's business affairs were placed last year.
A spokesperson for the Minister of Commerce, Simon Power, says he will convene a meeting of Crown Law Office lawyers and officials on Sunday, so that he can brief Cabinet on the case on Monday.
Calls flooding in
A supporter of the Hubbards, Jan McPherson, says she has been fielding calls all Saturday morning and thinks there will be an outpouring of grief.
"It's such a sad circumstance that he has never had the opportunity to publicly clear his name," Ms McPherson says.
John Funnell, who began a helicopter business 35 years ago with financial help from Mr Hubbard, and is now the administrator of the Facebook page Leave Alan Hubbard Alone, says calls are flooding in from supporters, including businesspeople, farmers and fellow aviators expressing disbelief.
He says many people saw Mr Hubbard as invincible although he was an elderly man.
Another supporter, Paul Carruthers, says the crash came on top of a long-running and intolerable situation that has been very distressing for the couple.
Police say the crash investigation could take several weeks and are asking anyone who saw it to come forward.
Investor and philanthropist
An investor and philanthropist, Allan Hubbard was once thought to have been the South Island's richest man.
His interests ranged from helicopters to horticulture, finance to farming.
One of five children, he grew up in poverty in Dunedin. He was educated at King Edward Technical College but left at 15, unable to realise his ambition to be a lawyer.
He became a clerk at the Trustees Executors and Agency company and studied for his School Certificate and University Entrance examinations at night school.
He did an accountancy degree at Otago University and in 1953 moved to Timaru and set up an accountancy practice with Ken Churcher.
Just a 'country accountant'
Allan Hubbard described himself as a country accountant but he was an entrepreneur who made many investments in ventures that mainstream banks wouldn't touch.
Associates say he and his wife Jean gave away enormous amounts of money to charities and causes but only a quarter of what they did was known.
They lived modestly - Mr Hubbard drove a Volkswagen Beetle he had owned for years.
He once said the ordinary person "thinks being successful is that you've made a lot of money, you have a flash car, six wives, and four or five houses. I'm not like that".
Serious Fraud Office investigation
In June last year, the Government placed the affairs of the Hubbards and some trusts and companies under statutory management because of alleged irregularities.
The Serious Fraud Office undertook an investigation.
The people of Timaru staged one of the city's biggest ever demonstrations in support of the man who had given so much assistance and money to business and charity.
Last August, his main finance company, South Canterbury Finance, collapsed.
Mr Hubbard, who had been in ill health for some time, is survived by his wife and their five daughters.
