Asoka Ray; Pioneer in Development of Midwifery in U.S.

Asoka Ray, 85, a nurse-midwife who was a leading figure in developing the profession in the United States, died June 22 in Valhalla, N.Y.

Born in India to well-to-do parents, Ray took an interest in midwifery after becoming aware of problems in maternity care in her native country. Fully trained in the British method of midwifery, Ray went on to earn a master’s degree at the All India Institute of Hygiene and Public Health in Calcutta.

After immigrating to the United States in 1959, Ray earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees at New York University, and helped found the midwifery program at Beth Israel Medical Center in Manhattan, one of the first of its kind in the country. She headed the program at Beth Israel until her retirement in 1983.

Roy taught midwifery at Yale University and helped develop a course of training for foreign midwives practicing in the United States. She lectured internationally and delivered, over the course of her long career, more than 5,000 babies.