Claire M. Fagin, who was a dedicated advocate within the nursing profession and one of the first women to lead an Ivy League university, passed away last week at the age of 97, writes Cornelia Dean for The New York Times.

Throughout her career, she was known as a change agent.

When she earned her doctorate in nursing from New York University in 1964, she made the practice of limiting parental visits to hospitalized children the subject of her dissertation research, which later ignited a transformation in medical care.

In 1977, Fagin was named dean at the University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing.

Under her stewardship, the school saw its enrollment tripled, the establishment of a doctoral program, and Penn was turned into a widely acknowledged world leader in nursing research and education.

“It is really hard to identify anyone who has had a larger impact on nursing than Claire,” said Linda H. Aiken, a professor at Penn Nursing.

In 2006, Penn renamed its Nursing Education Building the Claire M. Fagin Nursing Sciences Building.

Fagin also served as Penn’s interim president from 1993 to 1994, and later founded the John A. Hartford Foundation’s national program on geriatric nursing.

Read more about the legacy of the late Claire M. Fagin at The New York Times. 

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