Sir Mark Dunajtschik was born in the former Yugoslavia in 1935 but is of German ethnicity, which weighed in his favour when German troops occupied the country in 1941. However, things changed after German forces retreated from Yugoslavia in 1944. Dunajtschik was imprisoned by Yugoslav forces in a concentration camp at Knicanin, along the Danube River, together with thousands of other ethnically German Yugoslavs. Many died of starvation or disease, including Dunajtschik's grandmother. He eventually escaped to Germany with his mother where he trained as a toolmaker before travelling the world for five years. 

In the late 1950s, Dunajtschik decided to make New Zealand home. After a few months on Kiwi soil, Sir Mark established Precision Grinders, an engineering business making and servicing tungsten carbide tools which he owned and operated successfully for 28 years before he ‘retired’ to start buying and building property. 

Initially beginning in the industry as a “hobby” at the age of 57 with no staff, Dunajtschik and his life partner, Dorothy Spotswood made their millions in property. At one time the pair had 434 tenants between them. Today at age 89, Sir Mark has earned his place as one of New Zealand’s most successful property developers and investors. Property investor Bob Jones reputedly stated that “all property developers go broke, and the only exception is that bugger Mark Dunajtschik and the reason he doesn't go broke is because he keeps his property."

Sir Mark has added extraordinary value to the Wellington cityscape and community. His legacy includes properties such as Environment House, the James Smith Building, the Harcourts Building, the HSBC Tower, and the Asteron Centre. In 2022, Wellington’s new state-of-the-art, purpose-built Children’s Hospital was opened after Dunajtschik built and donated the $50 million investment to children and families of the region. In October 2022, Dunajtschik announced he would make a second generous donation of $40-50 million to fund a new mental health unit in the Hutt Valley. The new Sir Mark Dunajtschik Mental Health Centre will replace the existing 24-bed unit at Hutt Hospital called Te Whare Ahuru, with a modern, safe space that will provide an additional 10 beds.

Sir Mark has received just about every major business award in Wellington, and in 2022 was recognised with a knighthood for services to philanthropy. His philanthropic endeavours are diverse, with generous support to many charities and good causes including the Wellington Free Ambulance, Life Flight Trust, Hohepa, an organisation providing disability support, the Graeme Dingle Foundation and the Heart Trust.

Over the past ten years Sir Mark has been a generous supporter of Victoria University. A laboratory and a research centre named after Dunajtschik will be established after his 10-million-dollar donation to the University of Victoria in 2023 to set up a mechanical engineering department. Dunajtschik said that engineering had given him his beginning in life and that he wanted to enable other people to use their engineering skills to work in different places in the world. In 2016 Dunajtschik donated $2 million to Victoria University to fund a Chair in sustainable energy systems, to be known as the Sir Mark Dunajtschik Chair of Sustainable Energy, enabling the university to set up a programme in sustainable energy systems. 

The New Zealand Business Hall of Fame is one of the premier business awards of Aotearoa.  Each year, between 6 and 8 individuals are inducted into the Hall to celebrate their significant contributions to the economic and social development of Aotearoa New Zealand. Individuals or Laureates will be formally inducted at a gala black-tie dinner on 11^th September.  For more information, or to purchase tickets/a table, visit www.businesshalloffame.co.nz.