In Memoriam
Guardian of the Discipline
It is with great sadness that we note the death of Thelma Schorr on December 20, 2024. She had just celebrated her 100th birthday the previous Sunday, December 15th. Thelma was among the greatest of nursing journal editors, serving as Editor of the American Journal of Nursing (AJN) for forty years from 1950-1990. She was also the de-facto “founder” of the International Academy of Nursing Editors (INANE), gathering together a small group of nursing editors in 1982 to form a new kind of network dedicated solely to the improvement of nursing literature. She was the recipient of the INANE Margaret Comerford Freda Award for Editorial Leadership in 2020. Thelma is featured as a “Guardian of the Discipline” on Nursology.net, where we celebrate her notable influence on the discipline of nursing in a blog on September 21, 2021
Thelma’s funeral will be at Plaza Jewish Community Chapel, 630 Amsterdam Avenue at 91st Street, NYC on Sunday, December 22 at 8:30 am. It will also be livestreamed, which can be accessed on the Plaza website at:
Plaza Jewish Community Chapel funerals details – Plaza Jewish Community Chapel
Interview conducted December 4, 2015
I share in the sorrow of the loss of Thelma Schorr. She was such an important voice in the supporting nursing on many levels. I have found memories of meeting her at an ANA conventions when I was collecting donations for a Nurses Strike in MA. Her smile and feisty presence has always stuck with me.
Jan. 23 2025
It was in concluding one of her AJN editorials that Thelma Schorr referred to Virginia Henderson’s definition of nursing. Her concluding paragraph was so powerful that it stayed in my memory, forming the basis for a speech to rouse Ontario Nurses in convention to include child and family poverty as a justifiable concern for nursing action.
After moving to Canada my subscription of the AJN continued for a couple of years, I always looking forward to Ms. Schorr’s editorials. It was many years later that I was gifted with personal contact with Ms. Henderson, even receiving a letter from her that now is posted for the inspiration of York University nursing students in Toronto.
Dorothea Fox Jakob