It takes a special person to move and talk with ease in both the arts and sporting worlds. Marshall Seifert was one of those special people. The art dealer and television commentator could move seamlessly from analysing the latest piece of work on display at his Dunedin gallery to breaking down the Otago Nuggets’ hopes in the National Basketball League. Seifert was interested — in a range of topics — and interesting, a generous and intelligent man with a fine sense of humour who liked
nothing more than a free-flowing conversation, preferably accompanied by a nice cognac and a cigar. His family recall a husband and father who was a character, someone described as an “enabler and life enhancer” who was passionate about his community and an advocate for Otago. “He gave so much to so many people. A coach, a mentor and a storyteller. A wearer of hats, a lover of sports, music, art. “He was well loved and he will never be forgotten.” Seifert’s impact on the wider
Dunedin cultural arts scene was immense. From 1981 to 1996, he celebrated emerging New Zealand artists through his self-named gallery in Dowling St (now Brett McDowell Gallery), a dealer gallery that promoted artists and hosted many significant exhibitions. He was a passionate collector, deeply committed to supporting artists and the arts, and he gave many significant paintings, drawings, photographs and ceramics to the permanent collection of the Dunedin Public Art Gallery. In a National Geographic story in 1989, Seifert gave some insight into how he
felt about art. He said people criticised much good art — especially modern art — because they did not understand it yet felt they should. “They become angry at it, their emotions get confused and they tend to say, ‘If I don’t understand it, it’s rubbish.”’ One artist who became a close friend was Grahame Sydney, who has fond memories of a man he knew for five decades. “When I met him sometime in the mid-1970s. He was already a poppy whose head stood taller
than the rest in Dunedin’s rather staid, conservative field,” Sydney recalled. “Was it the accent? The confidence? The certainty? The energy? He knew so many of the interesting, side-alley creative people, and seemed thrilled by them and their company, as they were by his.” Seifert, who died in Dunedin on April 19, aged 86, was also a member of the Southern Sinfonia board for 12 years. In 2009, he put together a concert celebrating the life and works of Frances Hodgkins. The first half covered
the countries she had worked in, and the second half was visual of her works. Anthony Ritchie was the composer, the concert was scripted by Catherine Chidgey, and Rima Te Wiata played the part of Frances. Seifert’s gregarious personality helped him become a regular presence on television screens in the 1980s and 1990s. He was a star of the popular Antiques for Love or Money series, hosted by Dougal Stevenson and also featuring Dunedin antiques and auction identity Trevor Plumbly. The show was based on
the BBC’s renowned Antiques Roadshow, but in the Kiwi version, the owners of the antiques were never shown on screen, and the focus was on the panellists’ playful debate over the history and value of objects. It was a natural setting for Seifert, who showed he was equally at home behind the microphone as a softball and basketball commentator for 20 years. Hoops fans, in particular, came to know his distinctive twang, formed from a childhood in New York, very well as he worked as
both a television and radio broadcaster for the NBL, sharing his insights and excitement when the action in the league reached its pinnacle in the late 1980s and early 1990s. Seifert’s astute commentary earned him a Mobil Award for radio announcer of the year in 1993 for his work with 4ZB. Beyond the microphone, his contribution to basketball was significant. He played for the Otago men’s team in the pre-Nuggets days, and moved into coaching with Otago, New Zealand Universities and the New Zealand junior
men’s team. Writer and former Tall Black John Saker said Seifert had “something fierce”. “He saw the game the way he saw art — as a beautiful thing created by people to challenge people, something which could transport all involved somewhere else for a time,” Saker said. “It made life bigger and richer. It deserved love and respect. He loved the game and he loved his people. “This aroha travelled through and around his teams, bringing them together. This was largely unspoken, and of course,
it was the pre-hug era. But you always knew he had your back. I know I felt the warmth of this big-hearted man who has always known what is important in life.” Seifert’s devotion to the game and his emergence as the voice of basketball were honoured last year when Basketball New Zealand presented him with the Murray McMahon Award for services to the sport. That followed a memorable reunion dinner in Dunedin in which he was paid tribute by about 40 of his former
players and received a Basketball Otago services award. A trophy in Seifert’s name will now be presented each year to the most outstanding and innovative coach in Otago. Marshall Alan Seifert was born in Melbourne on May 22, 1939. His father, also Marshall, had started a silk mill in the 1930s and created parachutes for the war years, and mother Elizabeth (nee Parr, known as Betty) was a third-generation New Zealander whose father, Sir James Parr, had been mayor of Auckland, the minister of education
and high commissioner in London. Seifert had two siblings — older brother Miles and younger sister Sunny — and the family moved to New York when he was 6. Both Seifert and his brother suffered from a stammer, and were teased because of it. Seifert did not initially like school as his Australian accent made him stick out, and he was physically small and felt inferior. He was highly intelligent, however, and excelled in sports. He would stay up late at night hiding under the
bedclothes with a torch, listening to the radio or reading books, gripped by stories of the world. Seifert attended the University of Vermont to pursue sports, while his brother went to Princeton. One of his first jobs was at the Waldorf Astoria in New York, making cocktails. Then came an unexpected thrill when he worked as a security assistant on the Ed Sullivan Show and was there for The Beatles’ first appearance on US television in 1964. Seifert was on a wine tour of Europe
with good friend Jeff Megan when they stopped in Copenhagen. At a cafe, he struck up a conversation with a young medical student called Anna Lise Koefoed — and the pair made an instant connection. They moved on to a jazz club, got to know each other a little in the intimate setting, and within three days they were engaged. After introducing his future bride to his family in New York, Seifert went back to Denmark, but the couple decided to start a new life
together, and they chose New Zealand. Seifert had met a Canterbury shearer, Neil Manson, on an earlier visit to Europe. The art-loving political activist and the rural Kiwi struck up an unlikely friendship and travelled through Britain and Ireland together. A visit to New Zealand in 1963 convinced Seifert the isolated nation would be an ideal destination, and after he and Anna Lise married in New York in 1967, they made the big shift. Seifert’s broadcasting work was augmented by a role as a recreation
officer, and he was also a stay-at-home dad for a period after their two daughters were born. Another interest was the Globe Theatre, where he served as a committee member and also acted and directed. That led to capping shows, hospital reviews and a fundraising concert that was broadcast live on national radio for six years. Home for the Seiferts became 3ha of native bush on the hill overlooking Blueskin Bay. It was the perfect place to bring up their daughters, connect to the outdoors
and meet a range of people with broad views. “I like it when people are stating their opinions — it’s healthy,” Seifert said. He described Waitati as a “microcosm of logic” and felt someone needed to write a book about the place and its interesting residents. His fondest memory of the village was having leading New Zealand potter Barry Brickell arrive by train to be greeted with a royal welcome. Seifert is survived by wife Anna Lise, daughters Nina and Leah, and grandchildren Isla and
Seb. — Seifert family/Allied Media
Marshall Seifert, Dunedin, art dealer, Brett McDowell Gallery, Dunedin Public Art Gallery, Otago Nuggets, National Basketball League, NBL, 4ZB, Mobil Award, Murray McMahon Award, Frances Hodgkins concert, Southern Sinfonia, Antiques for Love or Money