Peggy Koopman-Boyden

Dame Peggy Koopman-Boyden
Koopman-Boyden in 2017
Born
Peggy Gwendoline Boyden

(1943-08-16)16 August 1943
Dannevirke, New Zealand
Died27 August 2025(2025-08-27) (aged 82)
Hamilton, New Zealand
Alma materMassey University
Spouse
John Koopman
(m. 1968)
Scientific career
FieldsGerontology
InstitutionsUniversity of Waikato

Dame Peggy Gwendoline Koopman-Boyden DNZM (née Boyden; 16 August 1943 – 27 August 2025) was a New Zealand gerontologist. A professor of social gerontology at the University of Waikato,[1] she was accorded the title of professor emeritus when she retired in 2016.[2]

Life and career

Born in Dannevirke on 16 August 1943,[3] she received her primary school education at Ormondville before moving to Maharahara West, and then attended Dannevirke High School, where she was prefect.[4] In 1964 she graduated with a teaching diploma from Palmerston North Teachers' College.[5] On a trip to Asia she met John Koopman; they married in 1968 and went on to have two children.[3][5]

She continued to teach while completing a BA from Massey University in 1968 followed by a master's degree in education and sociology in 1971.[5][6] Her thesis was entitled Role consensus and job satisfaction in the educational organization.[6]

Honours and awards

In 1990, Koopman-Boyden was awarded the New Zealand 1990 Commemoration Medal.[7] In the 1997 New Year Honours, she was appointed a Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit, for services to the elderly,[8] and she was promoted to Dame Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit, for services to seniors, in the 2017 Queen's Birthday Honours.[9]

Koopman-Boyden died at Waikato Hospital on 27 August 2025, at the age of 82.[10]

References

  1. ^ "Professor Peggy Koopman-Boyden". University of Waikato. Retrieved 7 August 2019.
  2. ^ "Emeritus professors of the University of Waikato". University of Waikato. Archived from the original on 26 January 2018. Retrieved 7 August 2019.
  3. ^ a b Taylor, Alister; Coddington, Deborah (1994). Honoured by the Queen – New Zealand. Auckland: New Zealand Who's Who Aotearoa. p. 219. ISBN 0-908578-34-2.
  4. ^ McKay, Christine (9 June 2017). "Former Dannevirke woman made a Dame in Queen's Birthday honours". Hawkes Bay Today – via www.nzherald.co.nz.
  5. ^ a b c Swainson, Richard (20 September 2025). "A lifetime dedicated to the wellbeing of seniors: Emeritus Professor Dame Peggy Gwendoline Koopman-Boyden DNZM CNZM MRSNZ : 1943 - 2025". www.thepost.co.nz. Retrieved 19 September 2025.
  6. ^ a b Koopman, Peggy G. (1971). Role consensus and job satisfaction in the educational organization (Master of Arts in Education thesis). Massey Research Online, Massey University. hdl:10179/13457.
  7. ^ "Queen's Birthday honours 2017 – citations for Dame Companions of the New Zealand Order of Merit". Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet. 19 June 2017. Retrieved 7 August 2019.
  8. ^ "New Year honours list 1997". Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet. 31 December 1996. Retrieved 7 August 2019.
  9. ^ "Queen's Birthday honours list 2017". Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet. 5 June 2017. Retrieved 7 August 2019.
  10. ^ "In loving memory of Dame Peggy Koopman-Boyden DNZM". Pellow & Hill Funerals. Retrieved 29 August 2025.