In her work and at home, Nancy Ancrum practiced her beliefs. Fairness, truth, equality and kindness were core to her actions. Her unexpected death at age 67 on Feb. 9, weeks after retiring as Miami Herald Editorial Page Editor, brought a community outpouring of shock, followed by the question: How can we honor her?
At the Miami Herald and el Nuevo Herald, with the permission of her husband George Fishman, we’ve established the nonprofit Nancy Ancrum Memorial to support economic mobility reporting.
For the past year, Nancy was an integral part of organizing Miami Leadership Local, a business-civic alliance focused on enhancing economic mobility for the county’s working poor. In Miami-Dade, more than half of the population lives at or below the ALICE (Asset Limited, Income Constrained, Employed) threshold. As a journalist, Nancy knew that creating an economic mobility reporting position laser-focused on solutions to increasing the standard of living for all is key to keeping this critical topic on top of the public agenda.
The Nancy Ancrum Memorial is part of the nonprofit Miami Herald Impact Journalism Fund at the Miami Foundation. It can help close the gap between the $250,000 already raised, and the $300,000 needed to establish a two-year, dedicated Economic Mobility Reporting Initiative.
If you would like to honor Nancy with a contribution, you can do so via the button at MiamiHerald.com/donate. In the appropriate field, please note that the gift is in Nancy’s memory.
Here are just a few other ways you can honor Nancy:
- In her post-journalism life, Nancy joined the board of the Women’s Fund of Miami-Dade County. You can support its work and honor her at this link: In Loving Memory of Nancy Ancrum.
- Nancy also recently joined the board of the Brickell Avenue Literary Society. You can learn more and support it at this link.
- Nancy loved butterflies and the plants that attracted them. You can support the effort to name a welcoming bench near the butterfly display at David Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden in her honor. For more info contact Luisa Yanez: luisayanez27@gmail.com.
- Nancy served on an advisory board at the Gwen Ifill College of Media, Arts, and Society at Simmons University. It, too, would welcome support in her honor.
A celebration of life is being planned for later this spring. For now, you can plant milkweed or another butterfly-friendly plant in your own garden. Nancy will be smiling.
