Environment Court judge John Treadwell died in Wellington on 14 August 2003 after a brief illness following heart surgery.

Born in Wanganui in 1933, he was Chair of the Special Town and Country Planning Appeal Board in 1972, then sat on the Planning Tribunal and became an Environment Court judge in 1996.

Some of his high profile cases included the speed of fast ferries in Queen Charlotte Sound, approval for a motorway through Mt Roskill in Auckland and Clyde Dam litigation.

Principal Environment Court Judge John Bollard said he and his colleagues were “stunned and very sad by the news of Judge Treadwell’s death. He was due to retire in October.

This obituary was first published in LawTalk 610, 1 September 2003, page 4.