Roland Sawyer Barth, 84

Newton, Mass.
ROLAND S. BARTH – Educator, sailor and farmer. A product of public elementary school in Miami, Florida, and a one-room schoolhouse in Alna, Maine. He became a teacher, principal, professor, consultant, and author who dedicated his career to improving public education and fostering communities of lifelong learning. He passed away peacefully on September 12th in Maine, surrounded by his family.

Roland was born in Newton, Mass., the second of five children to Rev. Joseph Nicholas Barth and Ramona Sawyer Barth. He spent his life in Florida, Maine, and Mass., where his passion for saltwater sailing, farming, and learning, deeply touched all who knew him.

After receiving his BA in psychology from Princeton and M.Ed. and Ed.D. in education from Harvard, he served as a public-school teacher and principal for 15 years in Massachusetts, Connecticut and California. Roland received a Guggenheim Fellowship in 1976 and served on the faculty at the Harvard Graduate School of Education for thirteen years, as Director of the Study on the Harvard Graduate School of Education and Schools, founding Director of the Principals’ Center and the International Network of Principals’ Centers and Senior Lecturer on education. He was also an academic visitor at Oxford University and a member of the National Commission on Excellence in Educational Administration.

He received an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters from Lewis and Clark College and the Alumni Award for Outstanding Contribution to Education from the Harvard Graduate School of Education. He served as a trustee of Expeditionary Learning Outward Bound, a member of Micro-Society Inc. and The Bermuda Sloop Foundation, Chairman of the Board of the Principal Residency Network, and a member of the Board of Editorial Advisors of the Phi Delta Kappa.

Roland was the author of many articles and seven books. He focused on school leadership, school improvement from within, and the personal and professional development of educators. Central to his thinking was the concept of the school as a community of learners and leaders.

Roland leaves behind his wife, Barbara Bauman, daughters Joanna Barth and Carolyn Barth Renzin, her husband Lee, grandchildren Gus and Macey, and scores of dear friends and family. In his wake, educators and students worldwide will forever draw on his wisdom to form communities that improve learning.