‘Our hearts ache with loss’: Devastated family pay tribute to ‘warm and loving’ Rhodes Scholar, lawyer and water polo champion who suddenly died
- Finn Lowery died on Sunday, before devastated family paid tribute to him
- Mr Lowery was head boy at high school and won Rhodes Scholarship to Oxford
- He represented New Zealand as captain of the country’s water polo team
- Friends have remembered him as a generous person who always put others first
The heartbroken family of a star athlete and Rhodes Scholar have paid tribute to him after his sudden death.
Finn Lowery, 28, died on Sunday in New Zealand after battling depression, leaving behind a devastated family and his wife Rebecca. The couple were married a year ago.
‘Our hearts ache with loss but are richer for having lived with Finn,’ a death notice published in the New Zealand Herald read.
‘Finn loved generously, enriching the lives of all around him.
Finn Lowery (pictured), 28, died on Sunday in New Zealand after battling depression, leaving behind a devastated family and his wife Rebecca
‘Finn was an amazing man… he loved life, made the most of every day, and was universally adored by all who knew him. Finn was a beautiful young man.’
Mr Lowery, head boy at his high school Rangitoto College, was awarded a Rhodes Scholarship to attend Oxford University in 2014.
He helped out at a soup kitchen while studying, providing meals to homeless people.
‘The conversations he had with the people on the street during this time was not kept there, he continued to talk to them during the week when he passed with kindness, respect and dignity,’ his family said.
‘Finn was warm and loving; he was always the first to open his arms or the door to his home and invite someone to the dinner table.’
Mr Lowery captained the New Zealand men’s water polo team. His North Harbour club team shared a message to Facebook honouring their former teammate.
‘It is with our deepest sympathy that we mourn the loss of a club member, Finn Lowery,’ the post read.
‘A national champion and an all round legend to so many people within our North Harbour family. Rest in peace Finn.’
A member of the team said Mr Lowery was ‘always full of laughter’.
‘He would talk to the kids as if they were the most important person in the world. It was just his nature,’ the club member said.
Mr Lowery had returned to New Zealand from England with his wife in December.
After graduating high school, he played water polo for a club in Madrid before returning to New Zealand to study law and French at the University of Auckland.
Mr Lowery (third from right in blue jeans) captained the New Zealand men’s water polo team. His North Harbour club shared a message to Facebook honouring their former teammate
In 2012 he was an intern at the United Nations International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia in The Hague.
Mr Lowery finished law school in 2016, winning the prize for the top law undergraduate.
Friends said he wasn’t keen on a conventional career path in law and wanted instead to help those less fortunate.
‘He was the kindest person you could ever meet. He was always willing to go out of his way to help you,’ a friend said.
She said Mr Lowery was open about his depression but showed more concern for others.
His funeral will be held in Auckland on Saturday.
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