Dame Dorothy was made a Dame Commander in the New Year Honours announced on December 31, 1986, the year she retired as a long-serving member of the Otago Hospital Board (27 years), including a stint as its first woman chairman from 1974-86.
A former Dunedin city councillor (she won her seat in a by-election in 1970), Dame Dorothy was also a life member of the New Zealand Labour Party after joining as a 14-year-old.
She was heavily involved in several other organisations, including the University of Otago council, was awarded the Queen's Silver Jubilee Medal in 1977 and then a QSO for public services in 1978.
Her late husband, W.A. ''Bill'' Fraser, a former Labour MP for St Kilda (1957-81) and a former minister of defence, died in 2001, aged 70.
Yesterday Labour Party leader Andrew Little described Dame Dorothy as a ''force to be reckoned with''.
''Her lifetime achievements were immense. She was an innovator at a time when women found it difficult to have roles outside the domestic sphere.''
Dunedin South MP Clare Curran said when Dame Dorothy spoke, ''everyone sat up and listened.''
''Her touchstone was always the South Dunedin community and what was best for them. As a new MP, I took my lead from her and considered her a strong mentor. We didn't always agree, but her opinions were never to be taken lightly.
''I will miss her dearly and her passing represents the end of an era for Labour's Dunedin South.''
An obituary will follow.
