Memorial for Herald opinion editor Nancy Ancrum is today
A celebration of life will be held today for Nancy Ancrum at Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden. The memorial is open to the public.
The longtime Miami Herald editorial-page editor, who kept an eye on South Florida government and led her team to two Pulitzer Prizes, died in February at age 67.
The service will be 11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. at the garden house of Fairchild at 10901 Old Cutler Road.
“So many of you have asked how you might honor her. A bench for rest, contemplation and meditation, will be dedicated at Fairchild in Nancy’s memory,” her husband, George Fishman, said.
With the permission of Fishman, the Miami Herald and el Nuevo Herald have established the nonprofit Nancy Ancrum Memorial to support economic-mobility reporting. In Miami-Dade, more than half of the population lives at or below the ALICE (Asset Limited, Income Constrained, Employed) threshold.
As a journalist, she 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 her 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 her memory. In her postjournalism life, she also joined the board of the Women’s Fund of MiamiDade County. You can support its work and honor her at https://womens fundmiami.org/inmemory-of-nancyancrum/
There is one wish that Ancrum would have had, her husband says. “She would urge planting lots of flowers, especially milkweed, and other butterfly host plants.
“When I saw two big ugly giant swallowtail caterpillars feeding on a plant in the yard, I felt a big swell of relief, because we hadn’t seen any in many years,” Fishman said. “And then, when one of the giant swallowtail butterflies fluttered overhead, I knew Nancy was free and happy.”