Dr. Sharon Ivey Richie died on September 2, 2018, in Clearwater, Florida. She was 68.
In 1969, when Richie was a junior nursing student, she was elected Wagner’s homecoming queen — the first black woman to receive that honor. She represented the student organization Black Concern, and her election was an important step in promoting the rights and needs of African-American students at Wagner. (Read a complete profile from the Wagner Magazine fall 2009 issue.)
Richie went on to a stellar career in the Army Nurse Corps. She spent a year as a White House Fellow, served as chief nurse for the Army Recruiting Command, and was promoted to full colonel at age 36, the youngest officer of that rank in the entire Army at the time.
After retiring from the Army, Richie earned a Ph.D. in organizational behavior from George Washington University. She was a board member of the Military Officers Association of America and a trustee for Excelsior College, whose distance learning program in nursing has trained military nurses around the world. She also became the director of the School of Nursing at Norwich University, a private military college in Vermont.
Wagner College honored Sharon Richie in 1983 as Alumna of the Year, and again in 2010 as a Distinguished Graduate.
