Margretta Madden Styles, EdD, RN, FAAN, a scholar and nursing pioneer who had a global impact on nursing by helping create a framework for credentialing nurses, died November 20, 2005, at her home in Clearwater, Florida, at age 75. She served as presidents of the ANA (1986-1988), the American Nurses Credentialing Center (1996-1998), and the International Council of Nurses (ICN) (1993-1997)-the only person to hold all three offices.
Styles also served as dean of the School of Nursing at the University of California-San Francisco (UCSF) from 1977 to 1987 and remained professor of nursing and dean emerita. She previously served as dean of nursing at the University of Texas in San Antonio and at Wayne State University in Detroit, as well as an associate professor at Duke University School of Nursing.
Styles's reach was international, particularly in setting standards for nursing practice, and she is credited as the architect of a landmark study of nursing credentialing in the 1970s.
"Dr. Styles has changed the nursing profession forever, not just in the United States but internationally," says Kathleen Dracup, current dean of the UCSF School of Nursing. "Her vision resulted in a national, voluntary credentialing body that provides specific guidelines for all nursing specialties."
Syringa Marshall Burnett, a member of AJN 's international advisory board, concurs that Styles's legacy will be long-lasting. "Gretta's place in the annals of nursing leadership is secure," she says.
In Taiwan in June 2005, the ICN awarded Styles the Christiane Reimann Prize, considered one of nursing's top international honors, in recognition of her global contributions to nursing. She is survived by a brother, a sister, three children, and two grandchildren.