Mr Wilson will be awarded an OAM on Monday for the Queens Birthday Honours, but the 92-year-old is adamant that he was "just doing his job".

Humble is the best way to describe Mr Wilson, who spent decades teaching mathematics to students at Hobart High School, Devonport High School and Launceston High School.

His first teaching post was at Shannon State School in 1946 in the Central Highlands - he was there for six months, but it left a lasting impression.

"It was a bit lonely, I suppose because I only had 12 students," he said.

Mr Wilson said he had always had a passion for mathematics and wanted to share that with young people and teaching had become a natural progression for that.

His mother was an early childhood teacher, so he was exposed to the profession, but he said early childhood teaching was a bit different from teaching high school students.

But it is not just teaching that Mr Wilson is passionate about. He also spent many years as a member of the North Hobart Rotary Club, volunteering for the many causes the club pursued.

He held positions such as secretary, treasurer and president of the club and was named a Paul Harris Fellow due to his commitment to the club.

He volunteered with Meals on Wheels for about 20 years and was elected to the board during that time.

His colleagues and his students respected Mr Wilson. A book written about Hobart High School's history wrote about his appointment as headmaster as "an appointment that was greeted with general acclaim among the staff of the college. It was but three years since he had been farewelled as vice-principal."

He left Hobart Matriculation College after three years as headmaster to become superintendent of high schools and remains the only person to have held every position available to a school-based educator at the college, having spent 12 of the 20 years of his career.

Mr Wilson was also a founding member of the Mathematical Association of Tasmania.