Nancy Smith Fichter

1930 - 2025

Nancy Smith Fichter, 94, died on Feb. 21, 2025, at Tallahassee Memorial Hospital.
Nancy was born Oct. 29, 1930, in Jacksonville, Fla., to Elise Waring Partridge Smith and Warren Austin Smith.
She was exposed to dance at an early age, learning about the Martha Graham technique in the 1940s at Laurel Falls Camp for Girls on Screamer Mountain in Clayton, Ga., which was started by her grandparents and run by her aunt Lillian E. Smith. Nancy attended Florida State University to pursue a degree in English and took her first dance class there as part of her physical education requirement in 1948. As a student, Nancy served as president of the Theatre Dance Group, led by Nellie-Bond Dickinson, and performed alongside her in the first An Evening of Dance in 1952. During her college years, she spent every summer in New York and Connecticut to take classes from Graham. Nancy went on to earn her BA and MA degrees in English from FSU in 1952 and 1954, respectively, and her PhD in dance and related arts from Texas Women's University in 1960.
In 1964, she was lured back from serving as a professor of dance at Sam Houston University to FSU, where she was encouraged by her department chair to make the best dance program in the country. "Building a department is like casting a dance," Nancy said. "One seeks strong committed people to build a program, not a little monument to yourself." Over the years, she attracted the likes of Suzanne Farrell from the New York City Ballet, Anjali Austin of the Dance Theatre of Harlem, Dan Wagoner of the Martha Graham, Merce Cunningham and Paul Taylor companies, and Jawole Willa Jo Zollar, founder and artistic director of Urban Bush Women, to teach at FSU, according to The Tallahassee Democrat.
Nancy's goal for the department was to preserve dance's ephemeral history by becoming a repository of dance repertoire preserving the classics by reconstructing them. It's a mark of her stature that the FSU company has been granted permission to re-create so many masterworks.
Nancy created over 100 choreographic works for FSU dancers, other schools and universities and for professional companies. Her work is widely known through teaching and choreographic residencies and consultancies throughout the country, through her writing in various publications and through frequent speaking engagements at professional meetings.
Nancy served as president of the National Association of Schools of Dance and was also a member of the association's Commission on Accreditation. She was a founder and president of the Council of Dance Administrators (CODA) and was director emerita of the Board of the Florida Dance Association. She was the first recipient of that association's annual award, which is known as the Nancy W. Smith Award, for "outstanding contributions to the development of dance in Florida." In 1986, she received the Florida Alliance for Arts Education award given in recognition of her contributions to arts education in the state of Florida.
In 1991, Nancy received the Robert O. Lawton Distinguished Professor Award, FSU's highest honor. Upon her retirement in 1997, the dance theater in Montgomery Hall and a scholarship were named in her honor. Nancy served as interim dean of FSU's School of Theatre in 2001/2002. In 2002, she received the Artes Award from the FSU Faculty Senate for her significant contributions to the university's mission. Even after retiring, she continued to teach and direct at FSU for a number of years.
Together with her late husband, visual artist Robert Whitten Fichter, she led the development and direction of the Lillian E. Smith Center, a campus of Piedmont University in North Georgia. The center extends the legacy of Civil Rights activist and acclaimed author Lillian E. Smith (Strange Fruit, Killers of the Dream, etc.) and serves to support and expand the arts and social justice through its residency program and other initiatives.
Nancy was predeceased by her parents, her sisters Marianne Fink (Omar) and Elise Bartholomew (Richard) and her husband, Robert.
She is survived her nieces Nancy Bartholomew Long, Rebekah Saxanoff, Linda Matthews, Nancy Dawn Van Beest (Palmer), nephews John Bartholomew (Vicky) Omar Ray Fink III (Sharon) and numerous grand nieces, nephews and cousins in her extended family.
Appreciation is extended to the many friends who their offered support during Nancy's final days. Special gratitude is expressed to Big Bend Hospice for its fine and sensitive attention to the needs of Nancy and to Home Instead for its capable and consistent service. Special thanks are given to her friends and caregivers, including Augustus Jerger, Darlene Sherman, Pat Williams, Shelia Meehan, Cricket and Doug Mannheimer, Frank and Karen Skilling and Mary Beth Ervin.
Plans will be made for a future memorial celebration of Nancy's life.
The Clayton Tribune
March 6, 2025