Biography: Sandra Wilson Cherry died at her home in Little Rock on Tuesday, surrounded by her family. She was 64. She is survived by her beloved husband, John Sandefur Cherry Jr., and by her daughter, Jane Wilson Cherry of Washington, D.C. Born in 1941, Sandra is predeceased by her parents, Berlin Alexander Wilson and Renna Glen Barnes Wilson, and by a brother, Berlin Alexander Wilson Jr. Sandra was devoted to her family, her profession and her community. Raised in Little Rock, she attended Little Rock schools and was a member of the "Lost Class of 1959", when the Little Rock high schools were closed. During that year, she attended Hendrix College and later graduated from the University of Arkansas in 1962, where she earned a BA degree in History. She subsequently taught history and civics in the Little Rock Public Schools and served as Chairman of the Social Studies Department at Horace Mann Junior High School. In 1972, she left the teaching profession to enter the University of Arkansas School of Law in Fayetteville, and later transferred to its Little Rock division. A member of the University of Arkansas Law Review, she graduated in 1975 and began work as the first woman in Arkansas appointed as an Assistant United States Attorney. She served in that capacity for over 28 years, interrupted only in 1981, when Governor Frank White appointed her to serve as an Arkansas Public Service Commissioner. Again, she was the first woman to serve in that position. In 1983, she returned to the United States Attorney's Office where, beginning in 2003, she served as First Assistant United States Attorney until her retirement. During Sandra's time in the United States Attorney's Office, she served as a trial adjunct instructor at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock School of Law and taught at the Attorney General's Advocacy Institute in Washington, D.C. She was a recipient of the Department of Justice Director's Award for Superior Performance as an Assistant United States Attorney, presented to her by then United States Attorney General Janet Reno. In 2003, Sandra was recognized by Federal Bureau of Investigation Director Robert Mueller for her outstanding prosecutorial skills. She received the United States Department of Health and Human Services Inspector General's Integrity Award in both 1995 and 2002 in recognition of her contribution to the mission of the Inspector General. In 1992, she received the Arkansas Bar Association Golden Gavel Award for Exemplary Service to the Legal Profession. In 1991, she was awarded the Gayle Pettus Pontz Award by the Women Law Students Association at the University of Arkansas "for outstanding excellence and achievement in the legal profession" Sandra was Past President of the Arkansas Bar Association, one of two women who have been elected to that position. She was also Past President of the Pulaski County Bar Association. In 1999, she was elected Fellow of the American Bar Foundation and was Fellow of the Arkansas Bar Foundation. In 2000, she was appointed by then Chief Judge Susan Webber Wright to the United States District Court Magistrate Selection Panel. In 1993, she was appointed by then Chief Judge Richard Arnold to the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals Gender Fairness Task Force, and served on the program committees for the Eighth Circuit Judicial Conferences in 1995 and 1999. During her years of service to the legal profession, Sandra was dedicated to increasing the organized bar's membership and diversity. She considered it one of life's great benefits to work with the distinguished lawyers with whom she had the opportunity to serve on these and other efforts. She enjoyed mentoring law students and young lawyers, believing that whatever success she had achieved was in large part attributable to distinguished lawyers who had mentored her during her law school years. In 2004, she delivered the commencement address to the graduating class at the William H. Bowen School of Law in Little Rock. Sandra was Past Chair of the Arkansas Community Foundation Board of Directors and was a member of the Board of Directors of the Good Shepherd Ecumenical Retirement Center. She served on the boards of the Arkansas Governor's Mansion Association, the Arkansas Hospice Foundation, Inc., Gaines House, which she served as President, and the UALR School of Law Alumni Association, which she also served as President. She was a founder and past member of the Board of Directors of the Women's Foundation of Arkansas, and a member of the Arkansas Women's Forum. She was a sustaining member of the Junior League of Little Rock, having served on its board, and was a member of Pi Beta Phi Sorority. Sandra was a lifetime member of Second Presbyterian Church. In the last year of her life, Sandra was passionately devoted to raising funds to create a learning center at UAMS for living kidney donors as a tribute to the young woman who had given a kidney to her. Funeral services will be held at First Presbyterian Church at 3 pm on Thursday, August 3 officiated by Rev. Steve Hancock and Rev. Jim Miller. Interment will follow in Roselawn Cemetery following the funeral service. In lieu of flowers, memorials may be made to the Mary Melissa Cobb Fund Honoring Living Kidney Donors at UAMS or to the Sandra Cherry Endowment for Legal Scholarship at the Arkansas Community Foundation. Funeral arrangements are by Ruebel Funeral Home, www.ruebelfuneralhome.com.