OBITUARY: Janet Brownlie

The first woman to graduate as an Actuary in New Zealand has died. Women in Super has shared their thoughts.

Tuesday, May 12th 2020, 7:47AM

It is with great sadness that we share the news that Janet Brownlie (nee Hayden) passed away on Friday 1st May 2020 at home surrounded by her family.

Janet was respected by all within the financial services industry and especially by the people who had the good fortune to work with her. She was passionate about superannuation and the need for women to understand their own financial future. One of her friends, Amanda Beeslaar who worked with Janet at Aon has shared the following as she remembers a very special friend and ex-colleague.

"It was a privilege to know and work with Janet for over 10 years. Not many people know that Janet was the first female to graduate as an Actuary in New Zealand, which reflected her quietly determined nature. Janet loved solving problems and she certainly dealt with, and resolved, a few of those over the years. She was passionate and caring about the people she worked with, and created a very close-knit work family. She also mentored many and we all certainly learned a lot from her.

Actuaries can sometimes have the reputation for being boring, but Janet certainly was not! She was game for anything. She loved going to concerts...Adam Lambert and Guns N' Roses to name a few. She even dressed up as Ellen DeGeneres to host a talk show and interview people, at a conference of course....

Go in peace my friend, at least you are free of pain now. We will certainly be there to celebrate and remember you when the time is right."

Janet as a member of Women in Super for many years, and she was also a Council Member of Workplace Savings New Zealand.

Tags: Obituaries