Dr. Gerald Read

        Gerald Read, Architect of International Education, Dies at 92

            Gerald Read, Emeritus professor of education at Kent State University, whose educational ideas and persistence made him known throughout the world as a major architect of international education programs, died at his home in Charlotte, NC September 13.  He was 92.

            Following graduation from KSU in 1936 with a B.A. in history and social sciences and B.S. in education, Dr. Read led KSU students in a traveling seminar on rural education in Cuba.  He continued his study of Cuban education, earning his master’s degree at Ohio State University in 1938 with a thesis on the “History of Cuban Education.” He was principal of Tallmadge Junior High School (1938-41) and taught Spanish and history at Perrysburg, OH (1941-42) before starting his doctoral work in comparative education at OSU in 1943. He returned to KSU as a member of the University Laboratory School faculty the same year, and when appointed to the faculty of the College of Education in 1948, he developed courses in the history and philosophy of education and specialized seminars on education in revolutionary societies in Europe and Latin America.  He earned his Ph.D. in 1950 after completing his dissertation, “Civic-Military Rural Education in Cuba: Eleven Eventful Years (1936-46).”    

            Dr. Read’s early studies of the failure of Cuba’s attempt to promote democratic education reforms under military dictatorship, and his commitment to building positive relations among different societies through first-hand studies of their schools, would make KSU a major gateway for international intellectual cooperation.  His ability to overcome travel obstacles and language barriers made it possible for over 10,000 educators from North America to see what was happening in schools and societies all over the world.  The exchanges also made it possible for several hundred foreign educators to study schools and communities in the U.S. when opportunities to do so were severely limited.

            In collaboration with Dr. William Brickman, his close friend and well known scholar of comparative education at New York University, Dr. Read led the first comparative education seminar to Europe in 1956, sponsored by the newly formed Comparative Education Society.  He served as secretary-treasurer of the Society and associate editor of its journal, Comparative Education Review for many years.   Following the Soviet launch of Sputnik during the cold war, Dr. Read was invited by the Ford Foundation to organize the first traveling seminar for educators to the USSR in 1959.  Based on the observations of seminar participants, Dr. Read co-edited The Changing Soviet School (1960), the first public account of the USSR’s mobilization of science and engineering education for dominance in the space race.  At the end of his career he co-authored Russian Education: Tradition and Transition (1995), a detailed look at educational transformations occurring in Russia following the demise of Soviet totalitarian state in the early 1990’s.

            Repeated study tours under Dr. Read’s guidance for educators to the USSR, and most other major countries in the world, led to convening the first World Congress of Comparative Education Societies in Ottawa, Canada in 1970 and the subsequent establishment of the World Council of Comparative Education Societies. Following meetings with Prime Minister Chou En-Lai and numerous Chinese educators, Dr. Read was invited in 1974 to lead the first group of American educators to China toward the end of its cultural revolution. These early achievements in the international study of education are documented in the official papers of the Comparative and International Education Society and World Congress of Comparative Education Societies papers in the Department of Special Collections and Archives at KSU.  

            In recognition of his path-finding initiatives in international education, Dr. Read received numerous honors and scholarly awards. He was the first recipient of KSU’s President’s Medal in 1969 for outstanding service to education, the same year he participated in the White House conference on international education at Williamsburg, VA.  He served as Fulbright lecturer, Quito, Ecuador in 1973, and chaired the selection committee for Fulbright Scholars in education, 1975-78.  He received distinguished Service awards from Phi Delta Kappa, Kappa Delta Pi, Pi Lambda Theta and Delta Kappa Gamma, educational honorary societies that served as co-sponsors of KSU’s international study tours. In 1985 he was honored by educators in Great Britain for promoting comparative education, being made a Fellow of the College of Preceptors, University of London.  He became Honorary Fellow of the Comparative and International Education Society in recognition of his opening for so many the “intellectual and emotional doors between societies physically and culturally removed from one another.”  For building bridges between Soviet and American educators, he was given the title, Honorary Professor by the USSR Academy of Pedagogical Sciences.  In 1993  he was named Honorary Academician by the Russian Academy of Education and presided over the first World Bank symposium on “Democracy and Education” for the ministers of education of the 15 former republics of the USSR.  Dr. Read lectured at home and abroad and wrote extensively about educational reforms which he and others studied first-hand during his traveling seminars, especially the democratic character of secondary education in revolutionary societies.

            With his wife of 64 years, Victoria C. T. Read, and other members of the Read family, generous support was given to promote KSU, and other school and community organizations throughout Northeast Ohio.  Major donations to KSU established the Read Center for International and Intercultural Education in the College of Education, Health and Human Services, the Read Pavilion at Porthouse Theatre, the Read Distance Learning Center at NEOUCOM, and the Read football scholars program.  In honor of her distinguished career in nursing, the Reads also established a scholarship program for KSU’s College of Nursing.  

            He is survived by his wife, his daughter Victoria Anne Thornbury and her husband Carlton F. Thornbury and grandson Alexander F Thornbury; his brother, the Reverend Canon Ralph D. Read of Bloomfield, CT; and his adopted daughter, originally from Ethiopia, Kongit Dawit, and grandchildren Mariana and Yoel Dawit of San Diego, CA.  The family wishes any memorials to Dr. Read be made to the Victoria Read Library of Belmont County, P. O. Box 214, Flushing, OH 43977. Ohio.  In addition to the staff and neighbors at The Cypress of Charlotte and Hospice of Charlotte, the family also wishes to thank all those in the Kent-Akron area who so faithfully and lovingly kept in touch with Dr. Read during the years he resided in Charlotte.

            Dr. Read was buried in Rose Hill Cemetery, Akron following a private family service. A celebration of his life and recognition for his unique contributions to international education will be held during International Education Week at KSU, November 14-18.  For details contact the Director of the Read Center for International for International and Intercultural Programs, 330-672-2879.