Samuel Blumenfeld
Monday May 31, 1926-Monday June 1, 2015
Samuel L. Blumenfeld, noted author and a world authority on methods for teaching students how to read, passed away peacefully at his home in Waltham at the age of 89. The cause was leukemia.
Mr. Blumenfeld had lived in Waltham for the past 25 years.
Mr. Blumenfeld’s controversial stances on educational issues, particularly the failures of the country’s public education establishment, the decline in American literacy and the reasons for the high rate of learning disabilities in U.S. schoolchildren, brought him to lecture in every state in the U.S., as well as in Canada, Australia, New Zealand and England. He was internationally recognized as a leader in the intensive, systematic phonics movement and was a popular lecturer, teacher and advisor at workshops and conventions, especially homeschool conferences, and participated in such events on every continent. He was a frequent guest on radio and TV talk shows across the U.S.
Mr. Blumenfeld was active as a writer until the very end. His most recent book, Crimes of the Educators, was published in April and he was a regular contributor to the Web journal WorldNetDaily. He also served as chairman of the Massachusetts branch of the Reading Reform Foundation, a not-for-profit organization headquartered in New York whose mission is to improve reading instruction for children.
Mr. Blumenfeld was born and educated in New York City. He worked for 10 years as a magazine and book editor there before moving to the Boston area and turning to writing full-time. During the 1970s Boston busing crisis, he was living in South Boston and it was at this period that he began to focus on the problems of public school education. His first book, How to Start Your Own Private School, was published in 1972. Two more books followed the next year: The New Illiterates, in which he identified the whole-word method of teaching reading as the cause of school-induced dyslexia, and How to Tutor. To give himself frontline experience for his books, he served as a substitute teacher in the Quincy public schools. He also taught in private schools, including one for children with learning and behavioral issues.
His 1981 book, Is Public Education Necessary?, was described by one reviewer as one of the most important books about education ever written. In 1983 he wrote Alpha-Phonics: A Primer for Beginning Readers, to provide parents with an easy way of teaching their own children to read at home, thus avoiding the reading disabilities that he believed were school-caused. Like How to Tutor, Alpha-Phonics focused on the proper methods for teaching children basic school subjects.
Of his 1984 book N.E.A.: Trojan Horse in American Education, former U.S. Senator Steve Symms of Idaho said, “Every so often a book is written that can change the thinking of a nation. This book is one of them.”
Mr. Blumenfeld’s writings have appeared in such diverse publications as Home School Digest, Reason, Education Digest, Boston Magazine, Esquire, Commentary, Conservative Digest as well as The New York Times and many others.
Mr. Blumenfeld was also active in the debate over the Shakespeare authorship question, and theorized that Christopher Marlowe might have written many of the works attributed to Shakespeare. In 2008 he wrote a book on the subject entitled The Marlowe-Shakespeare Connection.
Mr. Blumenfeld served in the U.S. Army in World War II and took part in combat during the last weeks of the Italian campaign. He graduated from the City College of New York in 1950. He studied in France for two years where he befriended other American writers living abroad, including James Baldwin.
He is survived by his sister Janet in New Jersey and many adoring nieces and nephews, who fondly remember him for his conviviality and great stories.
Relatives and friends are respectfully invited to attend a graveside service with military honors at the Massachusetts National Cemetery in Bourne, Monday, June 8, 2015 at 1:30 p.m.
Brought to you by: Brasco & Sons Memorial Chapels Waltham
Obits For Life
Mr. Blumenfeld had lived in Waltham for the past 25 years.
Mr. Blumenfeld’s controversial stances on educational issues, particularly the failures of the country’s public education establishment, the decline in American literacy and the reasons for the high rate of learning disabilities in U.S. schoolchildren, brought him to lecture in every state in the U.S., as well as in Canada, Australia, New Zealand and England. He was internationally recognized as a leader in the intensive, systematic phonics movement and was a popular lecturer, teacher and advisor at workshops and conventions, especially homeschool conferences, and participated in such events on every continent. He was a frequent guest on radio and TV talk shows across the U.S.
Mr. Blumenfeld was active as a writer until the very end. His most recent book, Crimes of the Educators, was published in April and he was a regular contributor to the Web journal WorldNetDaily. He also served as chairman of the Massachusetts branch of the Reading Reform Foundation, a not-for-profit organization headquartered in New York whose mission is to improve reading instruction for children.
Mr. Blumenfeld was born and educated in New York City. He worked for 10 years as a magazine and book editor there before moving to the Boston area and turning to writing full-time. During the 1970s Boston busing crisis, he was living in South Boston and it was at this period that he began to focus on the problems of public school education. His first book, How to Start Your Own Private School, was published in 1972. Two more books followed the next year: The New Illiterates, in which he identified the whole-word method of teaching reading as the cause of school-induced dyslexia, and How to Tutor. To give himself frontline experience for his books, he served as a substitute teacher in the Quincy public schools. He also taught in private schools, including one for children with learning and behavioral issues.
His 1981 book, Is Public Education Necessary?, was described by one reviewer as one of the most important books about education ever written. In 1983 he wrote Alpha-Phonics: A Primer for Beginning Readers, to provide parents with an easy way of teaching their own children to read at home, thus avoiding the reading disabilities that he believed were school-caused. Like How to Tutor, Alpha-Phonics focused on the proper methods for teaching children basic school subjects.
Of his 1984 book N.E.A.: Trojan Horse in American Education, former U.S. Senator Steve Symms of Idaho said, “Every so often a book is written that can change the thinking of a nation. This book is one of them.”
Mr. Blumenfeld’s writings have appeared in such diverse publications as Home School Digest, Reason, Education Digest, Boston Magazine, Esquire, Commentary, Conservative Digest as well as The New York Times and many others.
Mr. Blumenfeld was also active in the debate over the Shakespeare authorship question, and theorized that Christopher Marlowe might have written many of the works attributed to Shakespeare. In 2008 he wrote a book on the subject entitled The Marlowe-Shakespeare Connection.
Mr. Blumenfeld served in the U.S. Army in World War II and took part in combat during the last weeks of the Italian campaign. He graduated from the City College of New York in 1950. He studied in France for two years where he befriended other American writers living abroad, including James Baldwin.
He is survived by his sister Janet in New Jersey and many adoring nieces and nephews, who fondly remember him for his conviviality and great stories.
Relatives and friends are respectfully invited to attend a graveside service with military honors at the Massachusetts National Cemetery in Bourne, Monday, June 8, 2015 at 1:30 p.m.
Brought to you by: Brasco & Sons Memorial Chapels Waltham
Obits For Life
