When chairman Errol Millar asked if anyone wished to say anything to mark the occasion, chief executive Brian Rousseau responded: "The king is dead.
"Long live the king."
From next month the Otago and Southland boards, which have been collaborating closely for several years, will officially become a single entity, the Southern District Health Board.
Mr Millar said the board's final meeting was another step in an evolutionary stage for the boards.
If the boards had remained separate, they were "always going to be doomed to fail", he said.
The board's previous chairman, Richard Thomson, who served on the transitional board before being appointed chairman after the 2001 elections, noted that there was a significant difference compared with a previous transition.
On that occasion, the chairman had a drinks cabinet and had decreed that no liquid assets would be left for the incoming administration.
Mr Thomson said the merger of the boards was quite an accomplishment, with the two existing boards achieving something which had eluded them in the past.
Board member Louise Carr paid tribute to the work management had done to help bring about the merger and the personal toll of the high amount of travel involved.
The merger would be particularly good for the rural hinterland, particularly the Central Otago and Queenstown area, where provincial boundaries "didn't mean much".
Member Peter Barron said it was a "very exciting move" towards ensuring people of both provinces had services of a level and quality they deserved.
The move had taken considerable work and courage.
The Otago District Health Board officially came into being after the 2001 elections, replacing the previous Healthcare Otago, which had appointed rather than elected members.
That board, in common with boards throughout the country, had seven elected members and four ministerial appointees.
That will be the case for the new southern board after this year's elections, but until then the combined membership of the Otago and Southland boards will serve on the interim body.
The new board will have four elected members from Otago and three from Southland, rather than members elected at large as was the case with the separate boards.
Mr Millar has been appointed chairman of the interim board, with his deputy Southland's chairman, Paul Menzies.
Mr Menzies, who was present at the Otago board's final meeting, said although there was some doubt among some in the South about the merger, he considered the moves to the new board had been rewarding and "there is much more positive stuff yet to come".
Board members Louise Rosson and Judith Medlicott were unable to attend the final meeting.
The first meeting of the new board will be in Invercargill on May 6.
Members from both boards will meet in private the night before to discuss procedures for the interim board.
Mr Millar said with more than 20 people at the meetings "we could be there for two days if we don't watch it".
