Patsy Brewington Perry was born in Greensboro, North Carolina. At an early age, she moved with her parents to Clinton, North Carolina, where she completed elementary and high school. Perry earned the B.A. (magna cum laude) and M.A. degrees in English at North Carolina College at Durham (now North Carolina Central University.) In 1972, she received the Ph.D. degree in English from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Patsy Perry served as Reserve Librarian, Professor and Chair of the English Department, and as an administrator at NCCU for thirty-nine years, retiring as Interim Provost and Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs. She was Director of the NCCU Honors Program; Reviewer for the NEH Teacher-Scholar Program; member of the NC Humanities Council, the State Board of Education Advisory Council, the UNC Graduate Council, the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools, and numerous language/ literature organizations.

In her community, Patsy Perry has served on the boards of Women-in-Action for the Prevention of Violence and Its Causes, Senior PharmAssist, The Durham Nativity School, and the St. Joseph’s AME Church Board of Education and the UNC Board of Governors. She has also been a volunteer tutor in the Durham Public Schools and an Election Board Registrar. She is retired and is currently living in Durham, NC with her retired attorney husband Wayne Perry.