For over 40 years Simon Manning has been an important part of the funeral services industry, especially for his involvement in the disaster victim identification process.
Manning, from Raumati South, has been made a Companion of the Queen's Service Order in the Queen's Birthday and Platinum Jubilee Honours list for services to funeral services and disaster victim identification.
The accolade came "as a complete surprise to me and it is an acknowledgment to all our funeral directors and embalmers who have for years donated their skills to New Zealand in times of disastrous events".
Following the 1979 Erebus air disaster in Antarctica which claimed 257 lives, Manning helped establish a more structured disaster response for future fatal events.
He has led New Zealand's Funeral Disaster Response team for a long time, developing many teams of qualified volunteers to work on rotation.