Former Supreme Court justice and Solicitor-General Sir John McGrath has died in Wellington aged 73.

Sir John graduated LLM from Victoria University of Wellington in 1970 and became a litigation partner in the Wellington office of Buddle Findlay. He moved to the independent bar in 1984 and was appointed Queen's Counsel in 1987, before being appointed Solicitor-General in 1989.

Sir John was appointed a Judge of the Court of Appeal and High Court on 28 July 2000 before being appointed to the Supreme Court in 2005. He became a Knight Commander of the New Zealand Order of Merit in 2009.

In 2015 Sir John retired from the permanent bench of the Supreme Court.

Sir John's funeral will be held at 2pm on Wednesday 24 October at Old St Paul's in Mulgrave Street, Wellington.