Ken Gorbey was instrumental in getting Te Papa Tongarewa, the country's national museum, off the ground.
He was then asked to help salvage the Jewish Museum in Berlin - which had run into trouble before it had even opened.
He was headhunted to do the task by Michael Blumenthal, the former United States treasury secretary who had fled Nazi Germany with his family.
The project faced impossible deadlines - but eventually the museum was a success.
Mr Gorbey has written a book about his experiences - starting out as an archeology student in Auckland, working his way up to be director of Waikato museum - before moving to Wellington, and later Berlin.
Photo: Otago University Press
