• Jones amassed a $2 billion property portfolio and founded the New Zealand Party in 1983.
• He is survived by three sons and six daughters, and died peacefully surrounded by family.

Sir Bob Jones, one of New Zealand’s most colourful and successful business figures, has died at his home in Wellington. He was aged 85.

His family issued a statement saying he died peacefully surrounded by loved ones after a brief illness. They have requested privacy while they grieve and will not be making any further comment.

Tributes for the sometimes controversial property magnate have already emerged this afternoon.

Longtime political editor Barry Soper said on Newstalk ZB he was very saddened, describing Jones as a “character-plus, enjoyable company and a laugh a minute”.

“It won’t be the same, certainly for me not to have Bob Jones around.”

Soper said Jones was like Winston Peters in that things could be volatile with the media, but neither carried a grudge.

Jones formed a property company 64 years ago and went on to build a $2 billion portfolio.

He was raised in a state house in the Hutt Valley and died in a grand home overlooking Wellington Harbour.

A “genius” and “absolute legend”

Former Labour minister Stuart Nash counted himself a good friend of Jones, having known him for 16 years after meeting Jones when he first entered politics.

Nash described Jones as a “genius” and “absolute legend”, but recognised not all would share his view.

“Some people will remember him as a disruptor, some people will remember him as a genius, some people will remember him as a true gentleman.

“He’s the sort of guy, back in the day, that invoked a complete range of emotions.“

Sir Robert "Bob" Jones was one of the celebrity investors on television series Dragon's Den. Photo / Michael Bradley

He last saw Jones about three weeks ago for lunch alongside Labour finance spokeswoman Barbara Edmonds, whom Jones had wanted to meet.

Laughing as he spoke of Jones’ at-times “grumpy” nature in his older years, Nash referenced his passion for reading, his hatred of mobile phones and his record of philanthropy.

Nash said Jones would often use his controversial sense of humour to test people.

“If you had thin skin and you took it the wrong way, you could see it as offensive but Bob used humour to disarm.“

The guy really, he was one of a kind and it’s probably an end of an era.”

Pollster David Farrar has shared his memories Jones in a post to Kiwiblog, mourning the loss of his “larrikin sense of humour”.

He described first meeting the property magnate in 2005 to discuss the proposed Electoral Finance Bill.

“14 hours later at 4 am I staggered out of his building, having drunk more wine than I thought was possible. I lurched into the nearby petrol station and wolfed down a pie, as the 14 hours of talking and drinking with Bob involved much wine but little food.

“New Zealand is the better for Bob Jones. He contributed so much in business, in politics, in sports (boxing) in literature and in humour,” Farrar wrote.

“He will be greatly missed, and I hope his style of irrelevant humour will not pass away with him.”

Former Minister of Māori Affairs Tau Henare has described Jones as “funny, right wing but nice”.

“Love him or not, he certainly made his mark in Aotearoa,” Henare wrote on X.

Broadcaster Sean Plunket said Jones “never pulled his punches”.

“RIP Sir Bob Jones, a remarkable New Zealander and challenging friend,” Plunket wrote on Facebook.

The Taxpayers’ Union has released a statement paying tribute to Jones as a “provocateur for liberty”.

”Not only a major supporter of the Taxpayers’ Union, Sir Bob was a kindred spirit," co-founder Jordan Williams wrote.

“To us, he was also an unwavering champion of individual liberty, a firm believer in smaller government, and one of the rare public figures who didn’t just tolerate free speech – he weaponised it with wit."

Bob Jones checks the first copy of his provocative but funny book about the property game in New Zealand Jones on Property in 1977. Photo / NZ Herald

Broadcaster Jeremy Wells recalled his time with Jones, telling Newstalk ZB’s Matt Heath & Tyler Adams Afternoons that, outside of the public eye, Jones was “incredibly affable and very hospitable”.

Wells revealed that TVNZ offered him an exemption from their strict no-smoking policy for a studio interview that saw him drinking wine and smoking cigars with the noted tobacco aficionado - in an interview that ran well over its allotted time.

“If he decided that he liked you... there was nothing he didn’t share,” Wells said.

Speaking from an engineering business in Dunedin, Prime Minister Christopher Luxon said Jones was a “living legend of New Zealand”.

Luxon spoke of reading Jones’ books as a teenager, saying Jones had an “acerbic wit” and had great intelligence.

“He was someone I admired hugely.”

Luxon said he didn’t have many in-person interactions with Jones.

Politics, property - and that infamous punch

In 1983, Jones formed the New Zealand Party before Robert Muldoon’s snap election, splitting the National vote and helping the David Lange-led Labour Party to win the 1984 election.

He was a lifelong boxing fan and something of an expert, commentating and writing columns on the sport.

One of Jones’ most famous incidents involved footage showing blood pouring down reporter Rod Vaughan’s face after an enraged Jones collected him with a left hook in Tūrangi in 1985.

Vaughan and cameraman Peter Mayo had choppered into a tranquil spot where Jones was fly fishing in the Tongariro River near his holiday home.

His company bought the bronze mirror-glass Fay Richwhite tower building at 151 Queen St, on the corner of Wyndham St, where its Auckland offices are headquartered.

The company now owns 35 buildings with about 1000 tenancies.

Jones is survived by three sons and six daughters.