Les Mills, Olympic athlete and ex-Auckland Mayor, dies at 91

Former Auckland Mayor, Olympic athlete and inspiration behind international gym chain Les Mills has died aged 91.

Born in 1934 in New Lynn in West Auckland, Mills was raised for much of his youth in the central Auckland suburb of Grey Lynn.

He was married to Colleen Maree Mills, who died in 2005, before remarrying, his wife Florence Mills surviving him.

Mills had two children with Colleen, Donna and Phillip, with Phillip currently serving as founder and executive director of Les Mills International.

Les Mills represented New Zealand at the Olympic Games, his first being Rome 1960, and the Commonwealth Games over two decades, competing in the shot put and discus throw.

He claimed a total of five medals at the Commonwealth Games, including gold in the discus at the 1966 Games.

His personal best for the shot put was a New Zealand national record for 44 years, before it was beaten by current New Zealand Olympian Jacko Gill in 2011.

Mills opened his first gym in Auckland in 1968, catering for a small community of athletes with a focus on basic strength and cardio training.

He has described the space as “a basement gym so small and ill-equipped that it had alternate days for men and women to visit”.

In the 1973 Queen’s Birthday Honours, Mills was appointed a Member of the Order of the British Empire, for services to sport.

After missing out on selection for the 1974 Christchurch Commonwealth Games – where he would have joined Colleen and two children, who were also athletes – Mills called time on his lengthy career in 1975.

After finishing his sporting career, Mills became national sports director in Papua New Guinea from 1977 to 1979.

Ten years later, Mills served as the Mayor of Auckland City from 1990 to 1998.

Mills was the first full-term Auckland City Mayor after the 1989 amalgamations, when 29 territorial councils were reduced to seven plus a regional council.

Major events during Mills’ tenure included work commencing on the America’s Cup Village at the Auckland viaduct, the commencement and opening of the Sky Tower and SkyCity Casino complex that now dominates the Auckland skyline, the redevelopment of the Civic theatre and the refurbishment of the Auckland Town Hall.

In the 2002 Queen’s Birthday and Golden Jubilee Honours, he was made a Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit, for services to local government and sport.

Once Mills retired, he limited his appearances in public life, although he did suffer multiple health problems.

In 2018, Mills spoke out about his heart surgery in support of an Auckland exhibition titled Brave Hearts, in which he underwent an advanced procedure called Transcatheter Aortic Valve Implantation (TAVI).

At the time, Mills credited the surgery with saving his life, after being told he had to have surgery urgently or he would die.

This article was first published by the NZ Herald and is republished here with permission.