Maricopa has lost one of its most tireless advocates for seniors.
Joan Koczor, a leading voice for the city’s older residents, died Saturday, according to her family. She was 81.
“To the many people who have contacted us regarding my mother-in-law Joan Koczor, we would like you to know she passed away Saturday surrounded by her family,” wrote Cobblestone Farms resident Mary Koczor.
Mayor Nancy Smith remembered Koczor as “a true Maricopa advocate.”
“Her loss will be an impact to Maricopa and the hundreds of residents who enjoyed her and her many touchpoints within the community,” she told InMaricopa today.
Over the years, Koczor served on numerous committees and boards to ensure seniors were not left out of city decision-making. Her service included the Senior Advisory Committee, Parks and Recreation Advisory Committee, Maricopa Seniors Inc., Copa Seniors and Central Arizona Aging. She was also a longtime contributor to InMaricopa and Maricopa Senior Living.
![From left: Ron Smith, Joan Koczor, Elizabeth Howell and Mayor Nancy Smith stand with the Proclamation for Older Americans Month during a city council meeting on May 2, 2023. [Monica D. Spencer]](https://inmaricopa.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/mdspencer-050223-older-americans-month-proclamation-web-01-300x200.jpg)
To those who worked alongside her, the Desert Cedars resident was a force to be reckoned with.
Ron Smith, her former colleague on the Senior Advisory Committee, described Koczor as “relentless,” saying her dedication pushed him and others to do more.
“She really got me engaged in the whole process of advocacy for seniors and became a good friend and mentor along the way,” he recalled. “We both liked doing research and sometimes we would be sending each other emails at 2 a.m. because we were working on something. We just had that same kind of thought process.”
Smith said Koczor’s intensity inspired him to shift from describing himself as an aging-in-place advocate to becoming a full-fledged senior advocate, including launching his own senior resources website. He added that many of the city’s current senior services exist because of her work.
“We lose a lot of that intensity, that fight. She was the strongest fighter of anybody out there,” he said. “Every time you would see her, she kept reminding us there was something we needed to do. She never let us forget what we should be trying to do.”
