Education
He was dux at Mountain Albert Grammar School and then attended Auckland University College (now the University of Auckland).
He was dux at Mountain Albert Grammar School and then attended Auckland University College (now the University of Auckland).
Born in Athlone, Ireland in 1920, Bollard moved to New Zealand as a child with his family. He joined Plant Diseases Division of the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research (Department of Scientific and Industrial Research), but all territorial units were called up after the bombing of Pearl Harbour and he left with the 9th Reinforcements of the 2nd New Zealand Expeditionary Force. He was involved in the invasion of Italy.
Despite being a Pākehā, he was assigned to the Māori Battalion as a signaller.
At the end of the war he received a bursary to attend Emmanuel College, Cambridge and do a Doctor of Philosophy under F. T. Brooks. Returning to New Zealand he rejoined the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research and rose to direct its plant diseases division.
In the 1983 New Year Honours, he was appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire for services to science. Bollard died in Auckland in 2011 and his ashes were interred at Purewa Cemetery in 2013.