Peter Moss is remembered by his daughter, Lisa Cozens, after a tanker crash on State Highway 5 claimed his life. Photo / Supplied
To Lisa Cozens, her dad was in every sense a “gentle giant”.
Tall, broad-shouldered and strong, he naturally stood out. But it was the enormity of his “quiet kindness” that truly defined him, she said.
Peter Moss, 63, suffered a medical event while driving a fuel tanker on August 15, causing a fatal rollover that closed State Highway 5 south of Rotorua just after 2am.
Cozens said her father died doing what he “absolutely loved” – driving tankers. He relished the open road, sharing every trip and adventure with his daughter.
“Dad was always happy,” Cozens said, and the last two years were the “happiest” she had seen him in a long time.
He had a supportive employer and loved the variety of the job. But it was family that was always at the centre of Moss’s world.
“All he liked to do was spend time with his family,” Cozens said. The “highlight” of his weeks was hanging out with his 11 grandkids.
Driving gave him the chance to visit loved ones who lived far from his Pāpāmoa home.
Growing up in Whakatāne, Moss was one of five brothers, so he knew the bustle of a big family household.
The family moved to England when Moss was in his early 20s. While the rest of his family eventually returned to New Zealand, Moss decided to stay behind.
He landed a job as a groundskeeper with Southend Council, unknowingly working for his future father-in-law, Rob Everest.
As luck would have it, he ended up moving in with Everest. Moss had nowhere to stay, and Everest, with his six-bedroom farmhouse, offered him a spare room.
Sharing the same roof, it wasn’t long before Moss met Everest’s daughter, Corrina.
Cozens recalled the story her mum told of how her parents first got together. At the beginning, “Mum did not like him,” she said. The fact her dad had brought Peter home was enough for her to think, there’s “no way I’m dating him”.
But fate had other ideas. When a 15-year-old Corrina was “desperate” for a ride to a friend’s birthday party, she reluctantly asked Moss for a lift. From that night on, the two were inseparable.
They were each other’s “best friends” and went on to share more than 40 years of marriage, Cozens said.
After nine years living in the UK, Moss returned to New Zealand in 1986 with his new bride, ready to start the next chapter of their lives together.
The couple settled in Edgecumbe, raising two boys and a girl. Moss worked with Bay Milk Distributors, but that quickly changed in 1991 when disaster struck.
“Our house burnt down, essentially,” Cozens said.
Moss had been at home with his three young children when the fire broke out. He managed to get everyone to safety. “He saved us,” Cozens said.
That moment proved life-changing. From then on, Moss committed to serving as a volunteer firefighter, a role he would proudly hold for the next 16 years.
For his children, the fire station became a second home, with countless hours spent cleaning trucks and re-rolling hoses.
“Whenever Dad’s pager beeped, whoever was closest to the door was grabbing his slides and opening it for him to run out. Anytime, day or night, that’s just what we did,” Cozens said.
She said her dad’s service and presence in the small Edgecumbe community left a mark on many.
At home Moss was known for his easy-going nature, often saying, “it is what it is”.
He was “very much a go-with-the-flow kind of guy”, especially alongside his wife, who loved to plan, Cozens said.
“At Christmas, Mum would put up all the lights and all the decorations and my dad would just go along with it.
“As long as his wife is smiling, he was happy,” Cozens said.
The couple moved to Tauranga, where Moss worked several small jobs before joining Specialised Container Services (SCS). He found his way into fuel transport, beginning with MOVe Fuel early in 2023.
Moss enjoyed the simple things in life: a Lion Red at the pub with workmates, time with his grandkids, and his beloved cat, Buttons, who was very much “his baby”.
The 15-year-old cat was a “massive part of his life”, Cozens said. “It would go to bed when Dad went to bed.”
Cozens, who lives in Hamilton, said one of her most treasured memories was of having him walk her down the aisle earlier this year.
“As his only daughter, it was the only opportunity he was going to get,” she said. Cozens felt “privileged” to have him by her side.
Quiet by nature, Moss wouldn’t pry into others’ lives, but “he loved hearing about them”.
Cozens described him as “quietly supportive” and said he would be remembered as “a kind, gentle man who was there for everybody”.
In the days following his death, a Givealittle page was set up by a family friend to help support the Moss family.
Cozens said the money would go directly toward her mum’s needs as she learned to navigate life without her husband.
She said the family would continue “just being together”, cherishing the joy that Moss had loved most.
Annabel Reid is a multimedia journalist for the Bay of Plenty Times and Rotorua Daily Post, based in Rotorua. Originally from Hawke’s Bay, she has a Bachelor of Communications from the University of Canterbury.