Summarised by Centrist
Former Prime Minister Jim Bolger has died at age 90 in Wellington.
Bolger’s family said he died peacefully on 15 October, “Jim was much loved and will be deeply missed,” they said.
He is survived by his wife Joan, their nine children, and 18 grandchildren.
Bolger had been receiving dialysis treatment since kidney failure last year and celebrated his 90th birthday in May.
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon called Bolger “a towering figure in New Zealand’s political life.”
NZ First leader Winston Peters, who served as Bolger’s coalition partner in New Zealand’s first MMP government, described him as “a proud New Zealander who did what he said he would do.”
Peters said the pair ran their government “with integrity, focus, and a fidelity to New Zealanders who had delivered a majority to our two political parties.”
Born in Ōpunake in 1935 to Irish immigrant parents, James Brendan Bolger left school at 15 to work on the family farm before entering politics. He led National to a record landslide in 1990, oversaw the first Treaty of Waitangi settlements, and became Prime Minister for seven years. He later served as ambassador to the United States, Chancellor of the University of Waikato, and chair of several major state enterprises.
Bolger was appointed to the Order of New Zealand in 1998, the country’s highest honour.
