After a three-year struggle with cancer, Debra (Debi) Ann Rami, advisor in Basic Business, died March 9 at Vanderbilt's Alice Hospice in Nashville. She was 53.

Her husband, Ron Rami, is a retired member of the TTU administration, serving as director of Student Activities from 1977 to 2001. They married in 1973.

Debi Rami

"Every person brings a particular element to an office, and Debi was our smile and our bright spot," says Julie Galloway, director of Basic Business. "She could laugh about anything, she was our most pragmatic person, and she was always looking out for what was best for our students."

Born June 10, 1951, in East St. Louis, Ill., to Gene and Camilla Harness Schmidt of Memphis, Rami earned a B.S. and an M.A. at Eastern Illinois University in 1973 and 1974, respectively.

She joined our Basic Business staff in 1999, after serving as an adjunct faculty member in the English Department, teaching journalism and public relations courses since 1985. She also taught University Life courses in our Academic Development Program.

From 1986 to 1995, she was editor of the Cookeville Herald-Citizen's Lifestyles and Business sections.

"She was an excellent listener and a straight shooter, and that's what appealed to our students," says Galloway. "If students needed to be told to work harder, she'd tell them. She was direct, but compassionate. A lot of that was her skill in journalism; she'd ask the questions and help them dig for the answers.

"It's been so hard; we kept thinking she'd be back. Even when you could look at her and tell that she wouldn't be here much longer, she'd be back there at her desk or in the classroom, just working away. We'll miss her very much. It was an honor for us to have worked with her."

A member of the American Legion Auxiliary, Rami served on the board of directors of the American Heart Association; she also was a member of Cookeville First Baptist Church and active in the Adult Sanctuary Choir.

In addition to her mother and husband, her family includes a son and daughter-in-law, Jeff and Jessica Rami of Knoxville; and three brothers, Curt Schmidt of Silver City, N.M., Scott Schmidt of Maryville, Ill., and Tracey Schmidt of Windermere, Fla. She was preceded in death by her father.

Funeral services were held March 12 at Cookeville First Baptist Church, and burial was in Memory Hills Garden Cemetery in Memphis. Memorial donations may be made to the American Cancer Society by contacting Hooper-Huddleston & Horner Funeral Home.