Dec. 26, 1935 — Oct. 14, 2025
Longtime Ashland resident artist Nancy R. Zurich died Oct. 14 at Maple Ridge Senior Living. She was 89.
A native of Sioux City, Iowa, Nancy graduated from high school in Los Angeles and attained degrees in fine art from Los Angeles State College and the Chouinard Institute of Art. She also gained a teaching certificate and taught in the early primary grades for many years.
She lived in the vicinity of Monterey and Big Sur, California, in the 1960s, where she married her first husband, Tony Zurich. They later moved to the tiny town of Bodfish, California, in the southern Sierra Nevada, and from there enjoyed extended backcountry trips throughout California and other wild areas of the West and Alaska until the late 1980s.
After a short sojourn in the Kona district of Hawaii, they relocated to Southern Oregon in the early 1990s. Tony died soon thereafter.
In Ashland, Nancy’s art truly blossomed. During her 40 years there, she created myriad paintings and mixed-media works, as well as mural trompe l’oeil pieces which graced homes and businesses throughout the Rogue Valley. She was represented by the Blue Heron Gallery and Art and Soul Ashland and contributed poster images to civic organizations such as the Taste of Ashland festival and the Rogue Valley Peace Choir, where she was an enthusiastic singer for many years. She also enjoyed acting in several local theatrical productions.
Nancy remarried in Ashland as well, marrying Bob Cox in 2001 and enjoying local culture and world travel with him until his death in April 2024.
Nancy was a great soul, an independent thinker, an energetic craftsperson, a dedicated animal lover and an astute observer of nature in both visual and intellectual terms. She was a loving daughter, wife, aunt and great aunt. Nancy was also a music lover, a gifted, prolific visual artist in many media and styles. She will be lovingly remembered by her niece, Catherine Griffing Morse of Oakland, California, her grandniece Caitlin Morse and grandnephew Charles Morse, her cousin Pamela Babey of San Francisco and many other friends and family. Nancy was buried in an intimate family ceremony at the Forest Conservation Burial Ground at the Willow-Witt Ranch.
As a memorial and celebration of Nancy’s life, an auction of her work will be planned in the spring of 2026, the proceeds of which will go to benefit local animal welfare efforts.
Obituaries may be submitted to Ashland.news via our online article submission form, or via email to news@ashland.news, with a photo or two attached if desired. Please be sure to include dates of birth and death, and reference to connections to Ashland/Talent/Southern Oregon. Please allow a few days for posting. There is no charge. Those wishing to make a donation supporting the Ashland.news service may do so here.
