James Coates (banker)

He was the general manager of the National Bank of New Zealand for 21 years before retiring from that role in 1914, moving to London and becoming a company director.

His father, James Coates, was a prominent pioneer settler of Auckland and a senior official within the administration of the newly established colony.

With an athletic build,[2] from a young age he was a keen cricketer, played rugby football, rowed and was an excellent shot-putter.

He died at 84 years of age at his home in St Stephen's Avenue, Parnell, Auckland, on 11 October 1935, after developing bronchial pneumonia.

[13] At the annual meeting of the South British Insurance Company on 24 October 1935 the chairman of directors, Victor Larner, said of Coates: Few men in New Zealand were more widely known or more highly esteemed.