In 1984 she was appointed a Human Rights Commissioner for four years.
Clark is also credited with starting the triennial post-election conference at Parliament, attended by party leaders, academics and journalists, which has become a key part of New Zealand’s election calendar.
Other accolades include being one of the first women to be admitted to the capital’s exclusive Wellington Club, which started accepting women in 1993.
Clark penned a number of books, including biographical works on a number of politicians, including Sir Robert Muldoon, Sir Keith Holyoake, Norman Kirk and Peter Fraser.
In 1993 she was recognised for services to education, before being made a Distinguished Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit in 2006, making her rare in being recognised as a political scientist by National and Labour governments.
In 2012, Victoria University established an annual prize in her name for an honours or master’s student in the Political Science and International Relations school.
She married then-Treasury Secretary Bernie Galvin in 1980, who died in 2010.
Victoria University director of the Centre for Strategic Studies Professor David Capie posted on social media that Clark would be remembered as a “trail-blazing academic” as well as a “beloved teacher, and a wonderful colleague”.