Sam Pata Emani Tagelagi (29 December 1935 – 10 September 2011) was a

Niue Niue is a self-governing island country in free association with New Zealand. It is situated in the South Pacific Ocean and is part of Polynesia, and predominantly inhabited by Polynesians. One of the world's largest coral islands, Niue is c ...

politician A politician is a person who participates in Public policy, policy-making processes, usually holding an elective position in government. Politicians represent the people, make decisions, and influence the formulation of public policy. The roles ...

and elder. Tagelagi served as the first Speaker of the

Niue Assembly The Niue Assembly or Niue Parliament () is the legislature of Niue. It consists of 20 members; 14 representatives of the villages and 6 elected on a common island-wide roll. Members are directly elected by universal suffrage, and serve a three- ...

from 1976 to 1993.

Biography

From 1958 until 1963, Tagelagi worked as an employee of the New Zealand Internal Affairs and Island Territories Department. He later served as the head of inland revenue, Niuean customs

comptroller A comptroller (pronounced either the same as ''controller'' or as ) is a management-level position responsible for supervising the quality of accountancy, accounting and financial reporting of an organization. A financial comptroller is a senior- ...

, and

treasurer A treasurer is a person responsible for the financial operations of a government, business, or other organization. Government The treasury of a country is the department responsible for the country's economy, finance and revenue. The treasure ...

. Aside from his long tenure as Niue's first Speaker, Tagelagi was also a member of many Niuean government committees. He served actively on the

Alofi Alofi is the capital of the island nation of Niue. With a population of 610 in 2022, Alofi is the second-smallest national capital by population (after Ngerulmud, capital of Palau). It consists of two villages: Alofi North and Alofi South. Th ...

village council A municipal council is the legislative body of a municipality or local government area. Depending on the location and classification of the municipality it may be known as a city council, town council, town board, community council, borough counci ...

until his death in 2011. Within business, he served as the Niue Development Bank's

general manager A general manager (GM) is an executive who has overall responsibility for managing both the revenue and cost elements of a company's income statement, known as profit & loss (P&L) responsibility. A general manager usually oversees most or all of ...

and owned an

accounting Accounting, also known as accountancy, is the process of recording and processing information about economic entity, economic entities, such as businesses and corporations. Accounting measures the results of an organization's economic activit ...

firm. Sam Pata Emani Tagelagi died from a long illness at his home in

, on 10 September 2011, at the age of 76. He was survived by his wife Etena Elovi (

née The birth name is the name of the person given upon their birth. The term may be applied to the surname, the given name or to the entire name. Where births are required to be officially registered, the entire name entered onto a births registe ...

Hekau) Tagelagi, his daughter and four sons. In 2020 his son

Dalton Tagelagi Dalton Emani Makamau Tagelagi (born 5 June 1968) is a Niuean politician who is serving as the sixth and current prime minister of Niue since June 2020. He was elected premier by the Niue Legislative Assembly on 11 June 2020, defeating O'Lov ...

was elected

Premier of Niue The prime minister of Niue (officially the premier of Niue prior to 3 September 2024) is Niue's head of government. They are elected by the Niue Assembly, and form a Cabinet of Niue, Cabinet consisting of themselves and three other members of ...

References

1935 births 2011 deaths Speakers of the Niue Assembly Niuean politicians People from Alofi {{Niue-politician-stub