he was awarded a Chartered Accountants ANZ Fellowship<\/a> in recognition of his outstanding service to his profession and community.<\/p>\nPaul said though his dad was honoured by the accolades, he was very humble and reserved.<\/p>\n
\u201cHis guiding philosophy was rooted in generation responsibility: to build not for himself alone but for grandchildren, the community and those who followed.\u201d<\/p>\n
Yovich would often say, \u201cwe only get to borrow this world for a time\u201d.<\/p>\n
Even his pastimes benefited from his powerhouse generosity.<\/p>\n
The enthusiastic bowler served in multiple roles at the Kamo and Whang\u0101rei bowling clubs. He organised an annual indoor bowls tournament among Dalmatian (Croatian) clubs across the upper-Northland Island \u2013 a tradition Paul said he had nurtured.<\/p>\n
![\"Wally]()
Wally Yovich (left) when the Whang\u0101rei Bowls club had a new mural completed. Photo \/ NZME<\/p>\n
\u201cAs a long-time member and officer of the Whang\u0101rei Dalmatian Club \u2013 formerly the Yugoslav Club \u2013 he was passionate about preserving and celebrating his heritage.\u201d<\/p>\n
Yovich had recently been on a mission to collect and document the stories and histories of Dalmatian families in Whang\u0101rei and nearby.<\/p>\n
Paul said his dad had a keen memory for names and stories in a way that made people feel treasured and heard.<\/p>\n
\u201cEven in casual conversation he would recall a detail \u2013 \u2018you once told me about that sheepdog at \u014cakura\u2019 or \u2018I remember your sister\u2019s first piano recital\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n
On a quieter level, Yovich had loved the outdoors.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe relished the simple pleasures of gardening, walking in native bush and the companionship of friends and family over shared meals.\u201d<\/p>\n
Paul said those closest to his dad had known a different side from the widely regarded business and civic figure others knew him as.<\/p>\n
Yovich had been humble, warm and ever curious.<\/p>\n
He had stayed mentally keen in his final years when illness had made participation more difficult, Paul said.<\/p>\n
Yovich would be remembered as more than his titles and projects.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe embodied an ethos: that success is measured by how one uplifts others, how one invests in place, and how one weaves kindness into daily life,\u201d Paul said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThough he has passed from our midst, his imprint remains in the gardens that bloom, in businesses he helped found, and in the hearts of all who knew his gentleness, determination, and integrity.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat would be something Wally would say is missing in today\u2019s society.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Yovich was born in Whang\u0101rei and spent his lifetime giving back to the community he had always called…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":67218,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[54103,682,54102,138,6255,1259,15970,25819,2082,54101,424,6453,111,139,1067,69,1118,54100,6791,15120,2552,13737,61,37116,1869,17454,102,54099],"class_list":["post-67217","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business","tag-accomplishment","tag-being","tag-brimmed","tag-business","tag-businessman","tag-community","tag-conviction","tag-deep","tag-for","tag-generous","tag-life","tag-lifetime","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-northland","tag-nz","tag-of","tag-philanthropist","tag-prominent","tag-remembered","tag-service","tag-spirit","tag-to","tag-walter","tag-whangrei","tag-whose","tag-with","tag-yovich"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/67217","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=67217"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/67217\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/67218"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=67217"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=67217"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=67217"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}