…and an award for Denis
The Wellington Gold Awards – in association with local paper The Dominion Post – celebrate inspiring business performers in Greater Wellington.
Denis Adam
This year an “Inspire Wellington Award” in association with Wellington City Council was given to Denis Adam.
Here is the citation as published in Dominion Post.
Denis Adam was born in Berlin in 1924. As a Jew, he left Germany to escape Nazi persecution and arrived in his new home of Wellington in 1947 after a stint flying Typhoons for the RAF during World War II.
During the late 1950s, while running a Petone service station, Denis established Adam and Adam, a successful insurance broking business.
In 1975, Denis and his wife Verna established the Adam Foundation for their art collection. Since then the foundation has extended to support the arts in general.
Denis’ name is associated with many events and venues in the Wellington region including the Adam Art Gallery and the Adam Concert Room at Victoria University, the Adam Portraiture Award, the Adam Chamber Music Festival, the Adam International Cello Competition and the Adam New Zealand Play Award.
Over many years, Denis Adam’s generosity has had a huge impact on the local arts sector, which now comprises an important part of the region’s economy.
Denis Adam is a role model for us all. He has shown that business people can not only gain great personal pleasure through funding the arts, but can also contribute to the arts becoming an essential part of the local economy. Over many years Denis Adam has invested large amounts of capital into Wellington’s culture, and it’s thanks to people like him that Wellington is now regarded as the nation’s Cultural Capital.
