Rotary Oceania would like to announce that Past Rotary International President, Bill Boyd, passed away on January 22nd 2025 in Auckland.

He was only the second New Zealander to hold this office in 120 years of Rotary International.

Bill was instrumental in leading 1.2million Rotarians as the world President during 2006-2007. He was recognized for his outstanding service to the Rotary Foundation with a Distinguished Service Award and Citation for Meritorious Service. He was also honored with the Queen’s Service Order for Community Service in 2007 and was made a Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit in 2013. Bill and his wife Lorna Bill were awarded the Royce and Jean Abbey Foundation award in 2024 and Bill was a multiple Paul Harris Fellow.

Bill was a member of the Pakuranga Rotary Club in Auckland and his passion was around water & literacy. He and Lorna set up a Trust where they distributed 230,000 “Dictionaries in Schools ”programme across New Zealand to low decile schools, worth approximately $ 7million.

He was also a Trustee of the Trees for Survival programme in NZ and had many and varied Rotary International roles across the decades, the last being the Chair of an International Peace Task Force working at an International level.

Noted as an outstanding communicator and “teller of tales” Bill described himself as “an ordinary man given extraordinary opportunites”.

Rotary members improve lives and bring positive, lasting change to communities around the world by promoting peace, fighting disease, providing clean water and sanitation, supporting education, saving mothers and children, growing local economies and protecting the environment. Rotary’s top priority is the global eradication of polio. Rotary launched its polio immunisation program, PolioPlus, in 1985, and in 1988 became a leading partner in the Global Polio Eradication Initiative.

About Rotary

Rotary brings together a global network of volunteer leaders dedicated to tackling the world’s most pressing humanitarian challenges. Rotary connects 1.4 million members of more than 46,000 Rotary clubs in over 200 countries and geographical areas. Their work improves lives at both the local and international levels, from helping those in need in their own communities to working toward a polio-free world. For more information, visit Rotary.org.

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