Neal and Annette Plowman had a rare public night out in June at a black-tie affair when they accepted the Supreme Award given by Kea, the organisation that aims to connect expatriate New Zealanders.
Their previous appearance in the spotlight was four years earlier when they launched the $100 million Next Foundation, one of the achievements that won them the Kea award.
“Neal and Annette are two of New Zealand’s most generous and truly humble individuals,” Kea’s chief executive, Craig Donaldson, said on presenting their award.
“Despite the incredible difference their support has made throughout the country, they’ve always opted to keep a low profile, shunning publicity and recognition for their work. It would be difficult to find two individuals more deserving of this year’s top honour,” Mr Donaldson said.
Were those smiles on their faces in the official photograph? Possibly, through gritted teeth.
The retiring couple, who made their fortune through NZ Towel Service, a business founded by Mr Plowman’s grandparents, George and Elizabeth, charged the foundation to invest that money in environmental and educational projects over 10 years.
Perhaps the Plowmans are regretting making it public that their money is funding Next – certainly many of the early beneficiaries of their generosity, which include Auckland City Mission, Lifeline, the Auckland University School of Business as well as projects for the restoration of Rotoroa Island in the Hauraki Gulf and Abel Tasman National Park, had no idea to begin where the money was coming from.
One of Next’s ventures is a collaboration with the Department of Conservation called Zero Invasive Predators (Zip), an effort to bring what New Zealand has learnt in clearing islands of predators to the mainland.
Zip chief executive All Brambley describes the effort as “a short sharp injection to transform the game and solve a wicked problem.”
Another of Next’s projects is the Bright Spots Awards launched in May by the not-for-profit Education Hub and backed by Next, which provides awards of up to $75,000 over two years to enable teachers and schools to design, implement and develop an innovative project.
The money came from building New Zealand’s largest laundry in Auckland, which both laundered customers' textiles and supplied towels, later expanding into supplying uniforms for rent.
In the 1970s, the company pioneered Air Towels nationwide and in the 1990s introduced barcode tracking systems.
The current Mr Plowman took the helm in the 1960s and was credited as one of the first to introduce American management techniques into New Zealand.
The business used to be publicly listed but the Plowmans bought back the family business after the 1987 share market crash and renamed it Endeavour Service Corporation.
They expanded its textile rental services throughout Australasia and diversified into other industries, notably cinemas.
They finally sold in 1998 to Alsco, another family business established in America in 1889 by George A Steiner.
Also in 1998, the Plowmans’ Realm Trust sold national cinema chain Endeavour Multiplex to Australia's Hoyts for $39.2 million worth of Hoyts shares.
Among other ownership changes, Hoyts was bought by Private Equity Partners in 2007 and sold to an investment company founded by Chinese billionaire Sun Xishuang in late 2014.
Since retiring in the late 1990s, the Plowmans have mostly managed to stay out of the public eye at their home in Kerikeri, making only the occasional public appearance.
One was in July 2007 when Mr Plowman was inducted into the Business Hall of Fame and then in 2014 for the launch of Next.
The Ploughmans' generosity is reflected in their net worth declining as they give away their wealth.