Nancy Washington, a longtime Pitt educator and local civic leader, died at 87

Nancy D. Washington joined the Pitt community as a doctoral student in educational psychology in 1969. Over the next 30 years, she would rise to a role within the chancellor’s office and help establish what is now the Center for Health Equity in the School of Public Health.

Washington (EDUC ’73G) — a dedicated Pitt alumna and faculty and staff member — died on Oct. 12, at the age of 87.

Born in Philadelphia in 1939, Washington was an only child and grew up in the city’s Nicetown neighborhood, according to her obituary. She graduated as salutatorian of Girls High School, studied education at Boston University and completed a master’s degree in education at Temple University before coming to Pitt for her doctorate, which she finished in 1973.

Pitt-Greensburg hired her as an assistant professor of psychology in 1972, while she was still finishing that degree. She was promoted to associate professor in 1979 and also served as a University Senate officer for the campus.

During this period, Washington researched psycholinguistics and taught a community psychology course that placed about 70 students with more than 25 local agencies over four years; she saw those placements as a chance for students to try out careers and see whether they fit, according to files in Pitt-Greensburg’s Millstein Library archives. She also partnered with John Wilds, then Pitt’s director of human resources, to organize an open house that brought more than 60 underrepresented students from area high schools to the Greensburg campus.

In 1989, the School of Medicine named her assistant dean of student affairs and director of minority programs, and she joined its faculty as an assistant professor of clinical epidemiology and family medicine. As dean, she worked to widen opportunities for students and push the University toward greater inclusion.

After four years in the School of Medicine, Washington became Chancellor J. Dennis O’Connor’s assistant, a role in which she supported Black Action Society students in opening a Black cultural center at Pitt. A year later, she helped establish the Center for Minority Health, which went on to run community programs such as the Healthy Black Family Project, a health initiative that enrolled more than 6,000 Pittsburgh-area residents.

She retired from the University on June 30, 1999, 30 years after first coming to Pitt as a research assistant.

Off campus, Washington was an involved member of several community organizations, including the founding group behind what is now the August Wilson African American Cultural Center. She stayed engaged at the center throughout her life, and along with former Pitt Alumni Association president Cecile Springer and three other local leaders, created the August Wilson Legacy Fund in 2015.

The fund now supports paid summer internships for local high school students at the Carnegie Museum of Art. Less than a month ago, the August Wilson Center debuted the first phase of a lighting installation at its Nancy and Milton Washington Plaza in her honor, a celebration she attended with her daughter Lara.

The plaza is also named for her husband, Milton “Milt” Washington, whom she met soon after college and married in 1960. The couple created a gallery at the Carnegie Museum of Art and started a fund at The Pittsburgh Foundation, where she served as director.

Washington served on more than a dozen boards across the city and commonwealth, including those of the Pittsburgh Symphony, the Pittsburgh Cultural Trust, Point Park University and the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts.

Her honors included selection as a Distinguished Daughter of Pennsylvania, the Senator John Heinz History Center’s History Makers Award for community service, Carlow University’s Women of Spirit Award, City Theatre’s Robert Frankel Award and the Three Rivers Youth Humanitarian Award.

Washington was also a lifetime member of Pittsburgh’s NAACP branch. In June, she co-chaired its Human Rights Dinner, which drew a sellout crowd of more than 500 people, the New Pittsburgh Courier reported.

Washington loved to travel and belonged to The Links, The Northeasterners, the Circlettes, the International Women’s Forum and Delta Sigma Theta sorority, her obituary said. On Saturdays, she shared coffee with friends from her “walking club.”

Washington is survived by her daughters, Linda and Lara; her sons-in-law, Gregory and Ken; and her grandchildren, Courtney “Cece” and husband Tom; Zoe, Kendall and Tanner. Read the full obituary and find service details.

Top photo courtesy of The HistoryMakers, which recorded Washington’s oral history in 2019.