Cambridge Stud owner Brendan Lindsay, who has been knighted for his services to business and philanthropy, is a fierce supporter of Te Arawhata New Zealand Liberation Museum in Le Quesnoy.
Brendan Lindsay, third from right, at Le Quesnoy’s Anzac Day celebrations this year with, from left: Todd Dixon, museum manager Elizabeth Wratislav, architect Anthony Vienne, Le Quesnoy Nouvelle-Zélande Association president Jean-Philippe Froment, Jo Lindsay, Waipā deputy mayor Liz Stolwyk and husband Andrew Reymer.
At the museum opening two years ago, from left Brendan Lindsay (Cambridge Stud), Jo Davies-Colley (Cambridge Community Board), Susan O’Regan (Waipā mayor), Dame Patsy Reddy, Liz Stolwyk (Waipā deputy mayor) and son Curtis Reymer, Marie-Sophie Lesne (Le Quesnoy mayor).
So much so he and wife Jo always love visiting Cambridge’s sister city in France with other members of the Waipā community. His latest visit was for Anzac Day commemorations with community board members, deputy mayor Liz Stolwyk and Cambridge High School students.
While news of his honour listed his address as Remuera in Auckland – he also has a home in Karaka, proof of his interest in the racing industry – it is Cambridge where the 68-year-old founded his business career in the early 1980s.
Brendan Lindsay at Cambridge Stud.
Then a travelling salesman and former Leamington Rugby Club player, he began manufacturing coat hanger discs from his garage. He went on in 1982 to create Sistema, a plastic container firm which he sold for $660 million in 2016 to Newell Brands in the US, brokering a deal that the containers would continue to be made in New Zealand for 20 years.
With the money from that the couple purchased Cambridge Stud from the late Sir Patrick Hogan and became dedicated philanthropists through the Lindsay Foundation and the Lindsay Investment Trust focusing on family, education, disabilities and animal welfare.
They have helped many charities including Pet Refuge, Starship National Air Ambulance Service, New Zealand Riding for the Disabled and Assistance Dogs New Zealand Trust.
The foundation also donated $3.5 million for the museum in Le Quesnoy, the French village that New Zealand soldiers liberated at the end of World War 1 with no loss of life to the town’s residents. More than 120 Kiwi soldiers died.
Sistema Plastics became a recognised leading global food storage brand, producing sustainable and recyclable storage products stamped ‘Made in New Zealand’ and exported to 55 countries.
Lindsay was made a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit for his services to business in 2012 and inducted into the New Zealand Business Hall of Fame in 2020 in recognition of his contributions to business.
Brendan Lindsay at Cambridge Stud.
