Dr. Walter Shervington, NMA President, 62, Dies

Jet, May 8, 2000

Dr. Walter W. Shervington, 62, president of the National Medical Association (NMA), recently died of cancer in New Orleans.

A psychiatrist and hospital administrator in New Orleans, he was a member of the NMA, which represents more than 25,000 Black physicians, for more than 30 years.

Last August, he became the NMA's 99th president. During his presidency, Shervington brought attention to the negative impact of managed care on Blacks and to issues of parity and access to HIV/AIDS care for Blacks.

Until his death, Shervington was CEO of the New Orleans Adolescent Hospital, a psychiatric hospital for children and adolescents. He formerly served as medical director, Region II, for the Office of Mental Health in the Louisiana Dept. of Health and Hospitals. He also served as associate professor of psychiatry at Louisiana State Univ. School of Medicine.

Shervington earned his undergraduate degree at the University of Pennsylvania and a medical degree from the University of Maryland School of Medicine. He is survived by his wife, Dr. Denese McFarlane Shervington; daughters, Shanga and Iman; and sisters, Anne Shervington Davis and Carol Shervington Wright.

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