School of Nursing remembers Rheba de Tornyay, EdD, RN, FAAN

Director of School of Nursing

1959-1967
 

Dr. Tornyay, known by colleagues and friends as Rheba, passed away on September 27. She received her bachelor's degree in Liberal Arts from San Francisco State University in 1951, a master's in education from San Francisco State University in 1954, and a doctorate in education from Stanford University in 1967. She served as the Director at San Francisco State University School of Nursing from 1959 to 1967 before she served as the Dean at the University Of Washington School of Nursing from 1975 to 1986. The de Tornyay Center for Healthy Aging at the University of Washington’s School of Nursing was named in her honor following her retirement.

 

A pre-eminent educator, Dr. Tornyay served as editor of the Journal of Nursing Education and was a member of the American Nurses Association’s Commission on Nursing Education. Additionally, Dr. Tornyay served in leadership roles on a number of national boards and councils, including the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Board of Trustees, the Harborview Medical Center Board of Trustees, and chairing the board for the UW Retirement Association's Wallingford Retirement Center.

 

In 1995, Dr. Tornyay was appropriately named a Living Legend by the American Academy of Nursing for her lifetime of work. We celebrate that work and are so very grateful for her early and lasting vision, wisdom, compassion and generosity. We are the better for it.