Gerhard Husheer

Johann Gerhard Husheer (26 July 1864 – 30 November 1954) was a New Zealand tobacco industry pioneer and processor, industrialist, philanthropist.

He was born in Bremen, Germany on 26 July 1864[1] to a family of Dutch heritage.

His grandfather, born in 1737 was a seaman and trader who, when returning after a voyage learned that the French had begun to occupy his home port, left Rotterdam for Bremen, Germany.

[2] Husheer was the first to plant tobacco in Motueka and became very wealthy.

[1] After the 1931 Hawke's Bay earthquake, he commissioned Louis Hay to design a new frontage for his National Tobacco Company Building, one of the most elegant commercial buildings in Napier, and registered as a Category I structure by Heritage New Zealand.