Adelaide J. Hinton | Hospital administrator, 74

Adelaide Jackson Hinton, 74, a former top administrator at Albert Einstein Medical Center's Daroff Division in South Philadelphia during a 30-year career, died Wednesday, Nov. 24, at her retirement home in Spring Hill, Fla. The cause was cardiac arrhythmia, her daughter Marcia L. Hinton said.

Mrs. Hinton was born in Philadelphia and graduated from John Bartram High School in 1954.

After graduating from the Albert Einstein School of Nursing at the top of her class in 1957, she became an instructor at the school and a nursing supervisor at the Daroff Division.

In 1969, she became the first African American woman to become director of nursing at a Philadelphia-area hospital, her daughter said.

Mrs. Hinton rose through the ranks, becoming deputy general director, risk-management officer, and, finally, acting general director of the Daroff Division.

She retired in 1987, but only briefly; Neumann Medical Center recruited her to help avoid bankruptcy, her daughter said. Mrs. Hinton retired for good in 1990.

She married Charles "Sonny" H. Hinton in 1956. The two met in high school. They lived in Yeadon. In retirement, they moved to Florida and became world travelers.

Mrs. Hinton was a member of the University of Pennsylvania Alumni Association and the Albert Einstein Medical Center Alumni Association.

She loved to entertain. "Nobody was a stranger to her," her daughter said.

In addition to her husband and daughter, Mrs. Hinton is survived by another daughter, Cynthia Hinton Richards; a brother; and two granddaughters.

A memorial service will be held Monday, Jan. 10, in Florida; a Philadelphia memorial service is planned for the summer. Mrs. Hinton was cremated.

Memorial donations may be made to the Einstein Medical Center Development Department, 5501 Old York Rd., Philadelphia 19141.