223100 Peg Ziegler

Dr. Peggy Jean Tucker "Peg" Ziegler, 89, died peacefully at her Atlanta home on September 17, 2025.

Born April 18, 1936 in Trussville, Alabama, Peg was the daughter of Lester Pierce Tucker and Velma Helen Towers. She graduated from Judson College in 1958. Then, for the first airplane ride of her life, Peg packed a wedding dress and flew to Tokyo, to marry David Frederick Ziegler and to teach both kindergarten and GIs. Relocating later to D.C., she taught physical education for the children of senators and congressmen.

Earning a masters degree in educational psychology, Peg became the Director of Guidance Counseling for the Asheville, NC school system, followed by four years as Dean of Women at Western Carolina University. Moving to Atlanta, she became Dean of Women at Emory University and earned her PhD in Educational Psychology at Georgia State University.

Peg is remembered for her 19 years as Director of Grady Hospital's Rape Crisis Center, where she established a reputation as a fierce advocate for sexual abuse victims. She started sixteen other rape crisis centers across Georgia, and regularly spoke at universities and to groups of physicians and attorneys, across the country, and in Moscow. An expert court witness in cases of sexual abuse, she appeared on several national TV programs.

Delightfully irreverent and deeply spiritual, Peg loved Taizé, and curated parties for diverse groups of friends in eclectic settings, including roller derby games, antique shops, skate parks, and funky hotel courtyards. She rescued cats.

In addition to her parents, Peg was predeceased by older brothers Lester Earl Tucker Sr and Robert Milton Tucker. Surviving family members include nieces Susan Hornsby and Donna Deavours, and nephew Gary M Tucker. Also mourning Peg's death are longtime friends Sylvia Gilliland Chandler, Diane and Bill Terry, Mac Gutierrez, Danielle Samaria, Carol Hadley, Mickey Goodson, caregiver Debbie Kahn, and others. Peg's body was buried by close friends at a spot she had selected in Honey Creek Woodlands, Monastery of the Holy Spirit. Peg's spirit continues through the many family, friends, Alpha Delta Kappa sisters, colleagues, and clients whose lives she touched.

Ziegler, Tucker, Peg