Joanne Pierce Misko

Joanne Pierce Misko
Misko in 2012
Born	Joanne Eileen Pierce (1941-01-07)January 7, 1941 Niagara Falls, New York, U.S.
Died	December 13, 2024(2024-12-13) (aged 83) Wheatfield, New York, U.S.

Joanne Pierce Misko (January 7, 1941 - December 13, 2024) was an American nun and FBI agent who, in 1972, was one of the first women to join the FBI as an agent.

Early life

Joanne Eileen Pierce was born in Niagara Falls, New York, to homemaker Ann (Egan) Pierce and Howard Pierce, who worked at a chemical company. Pierce grew up in Niagara Falls, and attended the local Catholic high school.

Pierce joined the Sisters of Mercy in western New York in 1960, remaining with them for 10 years. While a sister, she earned a bachelor's degree in social science education from Medaille College in 1965, and in 1970 completed a master's degree in history from St. Bonaventure University. She worked as an educator throughout the decade, teaching history in high schools in Niagara Falls and Orleans County.

FBI career

Pierce became interested in a job at the FBI after a recruiter visited Mount Mercy Academy, the school in South Buffalo that she was teaching at. Pierce had already been considering leaving, as she was interested in getting married and having children.

In 1970, Pierce moved to Washington, D.C. and joined the FBI in 1970 as a researcher, one of few jobs in the organization open to women at the time. In May 1972, FBI interim director L. Patrick Gray III changed policy, allowing women to become agents. Pierce applied, and she and Susan Roley Malone became the organization's first female agents after they underwent a 14-week training program at the FBI Academy in Quantico, Virginia, finishing in October 1972. During training, the two women became known as "the Nun" and "the Marine".

Pierce's first posting as an agent was in St. Louis, Missouri, where she focused on white-collar crimes. In early 1973, she acted in the FBI response to the Wounded Knee Occupation on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota. In the late 1970s, Pierce became "one of the first female supervisors at FBI Headquarters," working in the unit processing agent applications. She later worked in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, "where she pursued fugitives and military deserters". There, she met fellow agent Michael Misko (d. 2021), whom she married in 1981.

She retired from the FBI in 1994, and went to work as an audit investigator in a bank. At the time of her retirement, she had been "the longest-tenured female agent in FBI history".

Misko said that she generally faced little resistance within the FBI for her gender, although in 1994 she did file a lawsuit against the Department of Justice, saying she had not been promoted because of her gender. The suit was settled in 1996. On the job, Misko said she could use her gender to her advantage, as many suspects did not think she could be an agent.

Misko died of a lung infection in Wheatfield, New York, aged 83.

Awards and recognition

• 1995 Lifetime Law Enforcement Achievement Award, American Police Hall of Fame