It is with great sadness and deep respect that we say goodbye to our former president (from 1997 to 2001) and honorary member June CLARK (DBE FRCN FAAN FLSW), who passed away on May 14, 2025, at the age of 83.
June Clark was one of the founders of ACENDIO and was a staunch advocate for nursing language and informatics. She repeatedly returned to a phrase which she published with Norma Lang in 1992: “If we cannot name it, we cannot control it, finance it, teach it, research it, or put it into public policy”. She believed in the contribution of nurses to health care but was concerned that it was often invisible, hence the titles of some early ACENDIO conferences referred to making nursing visible. This quote still guides us today in our efforts to develop a European nursing minimum data set.
She had a unique personality and was described by many of her colleagues as a passionate, eloquent, and visionary nurse. Visitors to her home in south Wales were always shown her collection of nursing memorabilia, collected over her long career. She was a very lively member at ACENDIO and always contributed to general assemblies – always with an unwavering commitment to ensuring that the correct procedures were followed in accordance with the rules. Her career was marked by courageous commitment, intellectual clarity, and strategic foresight, particularly with regard to professional nursing policy. She was one of the outstanding academic pioneers and also president of the Royal College of Nursing (UK) from 1990 to 1994.
As a professor at Middlesex University and later at Swansea University, she had a significant influence on the development of community nursing and the scientific infrastructure in the nursing field – always with a focus on standardization and practical relevance. But June was more than just a nursing expert. She was a thought leader whose voice carried weight and whose actions left a lasting impression. She was a colleague whose tenacity went hand in hand with human warmth. She was an ever-present expert, whether at international conferences, in academic teaching, in expert committees, or at our ACENDIO meetings, offering clear and honest advice.
June will be missed by her colleagues in ACENDIO. She was a true nursing leader and a conscience for the nursing profession.
On behalf of ACENDIO, we extend our deepest condolences to her family, friends, and colleagues. Her legacy lives on in the culture of our community.
Claudia Leoni-Scheiber (President), Helen de Graaf-Waar (Vice President) with the entire ACENDIO Board of Directors.
