As a former chairman of both PPCS (now Silver Fern Farms) and Ravensdown Fertiliser, he had a stellar career that began in the 1950s on the rugby fields of North Otago.
There he quickly came to realise the value of disciplined teamwork. Adding to those values was a dedication to cooperative ideals.
Under Pringle’s guidance PPCS and Ravensdown underwent huge expansion. The approach owed much to the principles learnt on the rugby field, backed up by the ‘iron fist in the velvet glove’ – something learnt early in his career.
I remember Jim Pringle correcting a mistake I made, saying he was a front-row prop. It seems he in fact played on the side of the scrum where his speciality was terrorising the opposition halfbacks.
I didn’t know Pringle in his rugby days, but a mate who did said his time with the Maheno Rugby Club was where it all began. The club had for years struggled as tail-enders, but this changed with Pringle as captain, a role he played from 1955-1961, at the same time playing 30 first-class games for North Otago.
In 1961 Maheno won the Cititzens Shield as the premier club side in North Otago. At various times Pringle served the Maheno Club as secretary, president and patron. He was also selector/coach of North Otago provincial team. As my mate said, rugby was the Pringle training ground.
In his first move into local politics he was elected district member of the Waitaki County Council, becoming chairman in 1975. In the late 1980s he was elected president of North Otago Federated Farmers and in 1989 elected to the Otago Regional Council where he served six of the nine years as vice-chairman.
I like to think my good rapport with Pringle developed while he chaired PPCS and Ravensdown.
The key was not to be fooled by his affable country-boy manner. He told me in the early days, the 1980s, that if I played straight with him we’d get along fine.
During this time Ravensdown attempted a takeover of Southland’s phosphate manufacturer Southfert. The courts ruled such a move would take out too much competition.
The other expansion was with PPCS, the target the North Island meat processor Richmond.
What should have been a quick, tidy exercise dragged on for seven years, finally going to the Privy Council which ruled in favour of PPCS.
In retirement Jim Pringle became a staunch supporter of the Wool Advancement Group and its efforts to redirect some Wool Board funds back to farmers. Once the battle was won he was invited to become a director.
Pringle said his father was a farmer who loved and excelled in the corporate and political world. It was nothing for him to work on the farm all day and attend meetings at night.
And he knew how to have fun. I once wrote a column suggesting PPCS annual meetings were increasingly difficult to get into, with would-be attendees who didn’t look like PPCS suppliers running the risk of a strip search.
At the next PPCS meeting I attended I was confronted by Pringle and present chairman Eoin Garden who said I didn’t look like a supplier and would have to be searched if I wanted to stay.
I’m still not sure what a PPCS supplier looks like, but offending contraband was discovered on my person – two pens, a pad and a camera. I was allowed to stay.
Jim is survived by his second wife Daphne and children John, Mark and Linda. His first wife Rosalie died 20 years ago.
