Rose Muthoni Ndegwa
Premium memorialLovingly known as “Nurse Rose”
2 April 1966 — 21 September 2026 · aged 60
NYU Langone nurse manager who mentored a generation of immigrant nurses
New York, United States Born in Kerugoya, Kirinyaga County, Kenya Resting at Family land, Kerugoya, Kirinyaga County, KenyaAbout Rose
Every nurse who ever worked a night shift beside Rose Ndegwa remembers how the cardiac unit sounded when she was in charge: unhurried footsteps, a Kikuyu hymn hummed just under her breath, and the squeak of the tea trolley she wheeled down the corridor at three in the morning. Tired people make mistakes, she said, and tea prevents them.
Rose was born in Kerugoya, Kirinyaga County, the third of seven children of a tea farmer and a primary-school cook. She trained at the Kenya Medical Training College in Nairobi, nursed at Kenyatta National Hospital through the early nineties, and in 1996 flew to New York with two suitcases, a Bible and an address in the Bronx. She studied for her American licence while working as a home health aide, earned her nursing degree at Lehman College, and in 1997 joined NYU Langone Health, where she stayed for twenty-nine years and rose to nurse manager of the cardiac step-down unit.
Rose mothered a generation of immigrant nurses. She coached Kenyan, Nigerian, Ghanaian and Filipino newcomers through their licensing exams at her kitchen table, fed them githeri and chapati, and quietly lent rent money that she never mentioned again. Every December she organised the Kirinyaga community's harambee in the Bronx, and the money she gathered paid school fees for more than forty children back home.
She was strict about handwashing, generous about everything else, and unbeatable at Scrabble. On Sundays she sang alto in the choir at Bethany Presbyterian, always a half-beat ahead of the pianist and entirely unrepentant about it.
Rose died on 21 September 2026 after a brief illness, her family singing around her bed. She leaves her husband Samuel, their children Faith and Brian, her mother in Kerugoya, and hundreds of nurses who passed their exams because she would not let them quit. Her family will take her home to Kirinyaga to rest on the land where she was born.
“Drink your tea first. Most problems look smaller after tea.”
- Faith
- Christian
- Place of birth
- Kerugoya, Kirinyaga County, Kenya
- Resting place
- Family land, Kerugoya, Kirinyaga County, Kenya
- Passed away
- 21 September 2026, New York
Memorial Service & Harambee
Tuesday, 29 September 2026 at 11:00 UTC
Add to calendarMemorial fund
Bring Rose home to Kirinyaga
Help the Ndegwa family cover the cost of flying Rose home to Kenya for burial and continue the school fees she paid for children in Kirinyaga.
$5,676.25 raised of $12,000
47%20 recent contributions
- SC
Silvana Costa gave $95 · 16h ago
- MW
Mary Wafula gave $142.50 · 23h ago
“God comfort you all.”
- RM
Rehema Mwinuka gave $19 · 1d ago
- DD
Dennis Dolan gave $95 · 1d ago
“In honour of a great man.”
- MG
Maria Gruber gave $475 · 1d ago
“In honour of a wonderful woman.”
Life journey
Diploma in Nursing
Kenya Medical Training College1986 – 1989 · Nairobi
Graduated top of her clinical-practice cohort.
Staff Nurse
Kenyatta National Hospital1989 – 1996 · Nairobi
Worked the medical wards and learned to stay calm in a corridor of two hundred beds.
Emigrated to New York
1996 · Bronx, New York
Arrived with two suitcases and a standing invitation to Sunday lunch at a cousin's apartment.
Bachelor of Science in Nursing
Lehman College, CUNY1998 – 2003 · Bronx, New York
Studied nights and weekends while working full time.
Staff Nurse, then Nurse Manager, Cardiac Step-Down Unit
NYU Langone Health1997 – 2026 · New York
Twenty-nine years at the bedside and then in charge of the unit.
Harambee Organiser
Kirinyaga Community Association of New York2001 – 2026 · Bronx, New York
Raised school fees for more than forty children in Kirinyaga County.
DAISY Award for Extraordinary Nurses
NYU Langone Health2014 · New York
Nominated by three patients' families in a single year.
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Family & connections
Rose is survived by
- Samuel Ndegwa· Spouse
- Faith Wambui Ndegwa· Daughter
- Brian Njue Ndegwa· Son
- Jemimah Wairimu Mugo· Mother
- Lucy Kinya Mugo· Sister
Tributes & memories
6 people have shared a memory of Rose.
Knew Rose? Share a memory with the family and everyone who loved them.
Sign in to write a tribute- JM
Cousin, London
Rose was the cousin who made it to America and then pulled the rest of us along behind her. She sent the first computers to our village primary school and the first airfare to my sister. She called it nothing. We called it everything.
- PM
Pastor, Bethany Presbyterian Church
Rose sat in the third pew on the left and sang alto as if the roof needed lifting. Every December she ran our harambee, and when we came up short she quietly made up the difference. Our choir will be a half-beat behind without her.
- EK
Childhood friend from Kerugoya
We walked to school together barefoot, and Rose carried my books the whole week I had malaria. For years after she left for America she paid my daughter's school fees and never once called it a favour. Safiri salama, rafiki yangu. The red earth of Kirinyaga will welcome you.
- DW
Cardiologist and longtime colleague
In twenty-two years I never saw Rose let a patient's family leave the unit without knowing exactly what would happen next. Residents learned more about bedside medicine from her than from any lecture. She also remembered every colleague's birthday and arrived each time with chapati.
- GA
Nurse she mentored
Rose coached me for the licensing exam at her kitchen table for six months. I failed the first time. She fed me githeri, told me failing was an appointment, not a verdict, and sat beside me for the retake. I passed. I run a clinic in Maryland today because of her.
- MS
Nurse, NYU Langone cardiac unit
Rose precepted me on my first night. She handed me a cup of tea before she handed me a chart and said, “Breathe, then work.” Eleven years later I say it to my own new nurses. She never raised her voice and she never missed anything on the monitor. The unit is quieter without her humming.
