Wiremu Whakaue had siblings and children. But none, it seems, were there for him when the lonely pensioner most needed them.
The 68-year-old died, alone, in his one-bedroom Newtown flat in Adelaide Rd in 2009.
His decomposing body was discovered eight months later in March 2010.
Brother-in-law Tom George, 71, described the Wellington City Council tenant as a good joker who liked women and used to play piano for free beer in pubs.
He also loved to do crosswords. "He'd say, 'That's the one thing keeping me alive'."
But he was also a man who had wrestled with alcoholism and loneliness. "He was a no-hoper. He was off the tracks."
Family friend Amir Bidois described visiting Whakaue in his council flat in 2005, and said he was happy at the time.
He kept his flat tidy. "It was pretty minimal, but they are so small you can't overdo yourself."
Bidois attended Whakaue's tangi, before he was buried in Waiteti, Rotorua.
"It was good to bring his bones home. He was the sort of person who wanted to be alone, but he was much loved by his people."
Whakaue was raised in Rotorua but moved to Wellington in his 20s.
He married and had three daughters but split up with his wife and drifted apart from his family, George said.
"He loved his women; he had the gift of the gab. [But] when his missus left him, he just hit the bottle."
Whakaue went dry a few years back.
George used to visit him about twice a month with his grandchildren.
When he didn't answer one day in 2009, he assumed his brother-in-law had moved to Rotorua.
"I yelled and no response, so came home. I just left it at that."
Whakaue's death and the way he was discovered were tragic, George said.
He wished the family had taken better care of him and that council officials had checked more regularly on their vulnerable tenant.
"They didn't look after him. They all went away."
Whakaue's niece, Lenora George, said she was outraged it took so long to find him.
"It was disgusting, bloody disgusting. He was in there for so long. They [the council] could have checked themselves."
Two of his daughters lived in Rotorua and the other in Australia, she said.
"We're blaming his daughters as well - it was over Christmas and they should have been with him."
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