He was one of New Zealand's leading tax scholars and the country's foremost writer and thinker on international taxation.
Harris was educated by the Christian Brothers at St Peter's College, Auckland and in his final year (1965), he won the Taylor Cup for Languages.
He was head of the Department of Commercial Law at Auckland University 1995-1998; he was also director of the Master of Taxation Studies programme "for nearly a decade and was responsible for its development and evolution".
Ian Eagles, Professor of Commercial Law wrote: "[Garth Harris] ... guided successive cohorts of masters and honours students through their thesis and dissertations not only with rigour but also patience, compassion and gentle humour.
Garth was one of New Zealand's leading tax scholars and the country's foremost writer and thinker on international taxation.