Nancy Scott Amick, 85, passed away on Oct. 31 at home after a courageous battle with metastatic kidney cancer. She was surrounded by her loving husband, James, and her daughter, D’Maris. Nancy was born to Madeline and Ronald Scott on April 4, 1931, in Greece, NY, a suburb of Rochester. Her family moved twice more in the Rochester area, eventually settling in the town of Brighton where she attended Brighton High School. At Smith College, she majored in Physics, graduating Magna Cum Laude in 1953. She continued her studies at Cornell University where she earned a Masters of Science in Experimental Physics in 1958. Upon returning to Rochester, Nancy was employed by Eastman Kodak. In 1959, she relocated to Princeton, NJ to carry out research on thin films at the RCA Laboratories. Her work there focused on measuring the thickness of thin evaporated films, as well as assessing their structure and electrical resistance. During the interview process, Nancy met the love of her life, James Albert Amick. They were married on September 9, 1961.
After settling in their home in Princeton, Nancy became a volunteer at Recording for the Blind. Drawing on her analytical and scientific background, Nancy began creating raised-line drawings to accompany science texts for blind students. Over time, she developed novel techniques for generating these tactile drawings, becoming a leading expert in the field. Nancy and her colleague, Ruth Bogia, subsequently revived a non-profit organization known as The Princeton Braillists, with a focus on the creation of low-cost, raised line (tactile) maps. Their first effort, a four volume set entitled Maps of North and South America, became available in 1994. Since then, The Princeton Braillists have created and made available to the visually challenged some 35 different volumes of international and US State maps. In 2009, their service to the blind community was recognized by the National Federation of the Blind, which presented them with a Jacob Bolotin Award at their annual meeting.
In her spare time, Nancy was an avid gardener, very adept in needlework of all kinds, and interested in artisanal crafts. She and her husband annually designed and produced their own Christmas cards by silk screening. They also enjoyed travel, the theater and the opera.
Nancy is survived by her husband, James, her daughter and son-law, D’Maris and Joseph Dempsey, and two grandsons, Connor and Brian, currently Engineering students at Cornell University.
A memorial service will be held at Nassau Presbyterian Church, Princeton at a future date.
