NASW Foundation National Programs

NASW Social Work Pioneers^®

Bernard Nash

Dr. Nash received his MSW from the University of Minnesota School of Social Work with a group work concentration. Upon completing his social work training he conducted some of the earliest group programs for adult offenders, both in the community and in the Minnesota State Prison, Stillwater, Minnesota. While a student at the School of Social Work he conducted some of the early group work programs for delinquent gangs in Minneapolis.

Nash's pioneering was really in the field of the aging. While in Minnesota he served as Executive Secretary to the Governor's Council on Aging and later came to Washington, DC as Deputy Commissioner of the U.S. Administration on Aging. He later became the Executive Director of the American Association of Retired Persons (AARP). He has served as a consultant to all three past White House Conferences on Aging as well as having served two terms as President of the International Federation on Aging.

He will perhaps be remembered in the future for having conceived and organized the first Foster Grandparent Programs, a program which has now developed all over this country as well as in foreign countries. He has authored some 60 articles and chapters on aging subjects and has been active in several voluntary roles, including President of the Episcopal Society for Ministry on Aging and Chairman of the Maryland State Committee for Employer Support of the Guard and Reserve.

Nash was a Navy pilot in WWII and is a retired Rear Admiral in the Naval Reserve. He was the Coordinator for Special Outreach in AARP's Worker Equity Department.

After coming to Washington, DC he earned a Doctorate in Public Administration.