Maurice Ormsby was born in Te Kuiti and grew up on a dairy farm at nearby Te Uira after his parents - John Ormsby, Capt 28 (Maori) Battalion, and nursing sister Kate O'Gorman - returned from World War Two. A member of Ngati Te Waha hapu of Ngati Maniapoto, Maurice holds an MA with first class honours from Canterbury University and a D Phil in Philosophy from Oxford University.