Edith Sayre Auslander passed away peacefully on Wednesday, July 19, from natural causes. She was 83. She used her career as a journalist, educator and university administrator in service of a lifelong advocacy for women and people of color, mentoring numerous younger people over the decades. She was born Edith Ann Sayre on Sept. 3, 1939, at the Stork's Nest in Tucson.

Edith graduated from Tucson High School in 1957, and she earned bachelor's and master's degrees in journalism from the University of Arizona. She worked as a reporter and managing editor at the Arizona Catholic Lifetime in the early 1960s. She had three children with first husband Roger Armstrong, whom she married in 1962. From 1973 to 1981, she worked in a variety of writing and editing positions at the Arizona Daily Star. She was an associate professor of journalism at the University of Arizona from 1977 to 1984.

Edith also was a member of the National Association of Hispanic Journalists Hall of Fame. She served an eight-year term on the Arizona Board of Regents, and, in 1991, she led the effort to establish of the Commission on the Status of Women for all three state universities. She worked in the 1980s as the human resources director at Tucson Newspapers Inc. Later, at the UA, she was a vice president and senior associate to the president, and she was involved in the creation of the Women's Plaza of Honor on the UA campus, which was dedicated in 2005. Edith also worked in development for Arizona Assurance, a UA financial-aid program for low-income students in Arizona, raising millions of dollars in scholarships for bachelor's candidates.

Edith was preceded in death by her father William Sayre, mother Artemisa Sayre and younger brother John Sayre, Edith is survived by her husband of 46 years, Stephen Auslander; son Gene Armstrong; daughters M.E. Armstrong and Anne Pagel (Raymond); granddaughters Alexis Pagel and Marisa Pagel; stepsons Jason Auslander and Matthew Auslander; sister Mary Barrett (Bill), brother Federico Sayre (Desiree); and two nieces and four nephews.

To memorialize Edith's life, donations can be made to Arizona Assurance ( https://give.uafoundation.org/arizona-assurance ); or to the Edith S. Auslander Scholarship fund of the University of Arizona School of Journalism ( https://give.uafoundation.org/journalism)