The NZSA Constitution (Clause 3b) writes:
Honorary Life Members: Honorary Life Members are ordinary members of the Association who have been nominated by the Executive Committee and elected by a majority vote at a General Meeting of the Association on the basis of a long and distinguished record of service to the Association. They have all the rights of an ordinary member.
Life Members of the NZSA are:
| Stan Roberts | 1981 | NZ Statistician Vol 16(1) |
| J.T. Campbell | 1983 | NZ Statistician Vol 18(2) |
| Geoff Jowett | 1984 | NZ Statistician Vol 19(2) |
| David Vere-Jones | 2003 | Online Newsletter 58, September 2003 |
| George Seber | 2003 | Online Newsletter 58, September 2003 |
| Alastair Scott | 2003 | Online Newsletter 58, September 2003 |
| John Darwin | 2005 | Online Newsletter 62, September 2005 |
| Steve Kuzmicich | 2005 | Online Newsletter 62, September 2005 |
| Jean Thompson | 2006 | Online Newsletter 64, September 2006 |
| Jeffrey Hunter | 2006 | Online Newsletter 64, September 2006 |
| Sharleen Forbes | 2008 | Online Newsletter 68, September 2008 |
| Robert Davies | 2009 | Online Newsletter 70, September 2009 |
| Mike Camden | 2010 | Online Newsletter 72, October 2010 |
| Len Cook | 2010 | Online Newsletter 72, October 2010 |
| Mike Doherty | 2010 | Online Newsletter 72, October 2010 |
| Harold Henderson | 2013 | |
| Peter Johnstone | 2013 | |
| Murray Jorgensen | 2013 | |
| Judi McWhirter | 2013 | |
| Jennifer Brown | 2014 | |
| Neil Cox | 2014 | |
| Stephen Haslett | 2014 | |
| David Scott | 2014 | |
| Chris Wild | 2015 | |
| 2016 | ||
| Richard Penny | 2017 |