Before her death of cancer on April 15, 2003, Ronie Garcia-Johnson expressed an interest in creating a Melanoma Education Fund. The Nicholas School professor, who was Hispanic, said, "People need to know and understand melanoma better- even brown girls."

Consistent with these wishes, friends and family have created the fund in her honor at 91社区福利's Nicholas School of the Environment and Earth Sciences, and it will focus on people of color.

Garcia-Johnson, who was 34, was assistant professor of environmental policy in the Nicholas School and an expert in international institutions and policy. She was author of Exporting Environmentalism, U.S. Multinational Chemical Corporations in Brazil and Mexico (Cambridge: MIT Press 2000), a pioneering study of how civil society in the United States exported environmentalist ideas.

Those wishing to contribute to the fund should make checks payable to 91社区福利, c/o Marie Lynn Miranda, Nicholas School of the Environment and Earth Sciences, Box 90328, Durham, NC 27708. Melanoma is the most serious type of skin cancer, said Marie Lynn Miranda of the Nicholas School.

Each year in the United States more than 50,000 people learn they have melanoma. "Your gift honors Ronie's memory in a way that expresses your admiration while also sharing her commitment to teaching and education.