IN MEMORIAM:

RON REED

1947-1998

When Ronald F. Reed, Bebensee University Scholar and Professor of Education and Philosophy, Texas Wesleyan University, died at his home of a heart attack in late August, family and friends lost an affectionate and caring husband, father, and companion. Colleagues in foundations of education lost one of their greatest intellectual champions and warmest personalities. Indeed, everyone who knew Ron recognized him as a formidable proponent of the kind-spirited, intellectually rigorous qualities that he so superbly exemplified. His many friends around the globe have experienced both personal and professional loss with his passing.

Ron was born, reared, and largely educated in Brooklyn (B. S., St.Francis College, M. A., City University of New York) before attending and completing his Ph. D. at the University of Western Ontario. While in Canada, he taught at the University of Western Ontario and Lakehead University. In the United States, he taught at the University of Texas at San Antonio, Montclair State University, University of Central Arkansas, and Texas Wesleyan University. He was also a visiting professor at the Iberoamericana University in Mexico. As a teacher, he was noted for digging beneath initial responses of people and examining the thinking and reasoning of students and colleagues. Jake B. Schrum, president of Texas Wesleyan University, summarized well his perspective on thinking and teaching and his concern for others when he said: "Ron Reed was a great respecter of opinions. He always had an open mind and an open heart, and measured success not by students' answers but by their questions. He constantly urged his colleagues to think across disciplines in order to enrich their world view."

Going to Texas Wesleyan University in 1979, Ron became founder and coordinator of the institution's Analytic Teaching Program and was instrumental in establishing the Creative and Critical teaching center. He was promoted to Associate Professor in 1981 and to Professor in1986. In 1996, he was designated Distinguished University Scholar, and shortly thereafter he was appointed Bebensee University Scholar. He played a vital role in instituting and editing two journals, Analytic Teaching and The Wesleyan Graduate Review. In addition to being a committed teacher and editor, he was also a scholar and prolific writer. He was the author of nearly 500 book reviews, more than a hundred articles and chapters, and approximately a dozen books. His first volume, Talking with children, was published in 1983 and his most recent book is When We Talk: Essays on Classroom Conversation. Probably his best known book is Rebecca, a text named after his daughter and used around the world to stimulate philosophizing by children.

Ron is survived by his wife, Anne Reed; son, Jeremy; and daughter, Rebecca Pfleger and her husband, Wade. He is also survived by a host of grateful readers, students, colleagues, and friends.