In Memoriam: Vernice Doris Ferguson, 1928-2012

Vernice D. Ferguson, nursing administrator and educator, died at her home in Washington, D.C., earlier this month. She was 84 years old.

Ferguson served as the top nursing administrator for both the Department of Veterans Affairs and the National Institute of Health. After leaving government service, she was named a senior fellow at the University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing and held the Fagin Family Chair in Diversity. She spent time in South Africa as a visiting associate professor of nursing science at the University of the North West. She also taught at the University of Wisconsin at Madison, the University of Illinois, Georgetown University, and the University of Maryland. She also served as president of the International Society of Nurses in Cancer Care.

A native of Fayetteville, North Carolina, Ferguson attended Fisk University but earned her bachelor’s degree in nursing at New York University. She later earned a master’s degree from Teachers College at Columbia University.