Richard A. Boyd

Richard A. Boyd age 92, passed away on April 5. Beloved husband of 64 years to the late Marye (Mickee) Boyd (nee McPherson). Loving father of Lynne Delong (Dan), Julie Ross (Wayne) and Stephanie (Paul Ebright). Grandfather to Aubrey McKean and Taryn Ebright. Born in Coshocton, Ohio, Dick enlisted in the U.S. Navy while a senior in high school just prior to the end of World War II. Dick attended Capital University, where he met his future wife Mickee, and was a member of the basketball, track and cross country teams. After graduation, he began a notable career in the field of education, at one point heading the Cleveland Public Schools. He was a teacher and coach in Circleville and at Warren Harding School. He received his M.A. in education leadership at The Ohio State University and Ed.D. from the University of Akron. Dr. Boyd served as superintendent of the Warren City Schools and of the Lakewood City Schools creating that district’s school lunch program, the Lakewood Education Foundation and a celebratory Honors Night that continues to this day. He was then hired to be the Mississippi State Superintendent of Education to implement that state’s Education Reform Act. Returning to Ohio in 1990, he became Executive Director of the Martha Holden Jennings Foundation. When federal judge Robert Krupansky issued an order in 1995 stripping the Cleveland Board of Education of all of its authority and placing the state in control, Dick was asked to be the state’s leader of the district. The district was in deplorable financial condition, but under his leadership passed the largest levy in the city’s history. After nearly three years in the job, Dick returned to Mississippi as interim state superintendent. From there, he and his wife moved to Oxford where he became Visiting Professor of Education Leadership at the University of Mississippi. In 2000, Dick was asked to head the Barksdale Reading Institute, created to increase literacy in the children of Mississippi, and remained for eight years. He later was honored by the University of Mississippi School of Education Outstanding Educational Service Award. Dick was always involved in community activities. He was a member of the first class of Leadership Cleveland, the Lakewood-Rocky River Rotary Club, the Greater Cleveland Roundtable Education committee, the Ohio Business Roundtable Education Task Force, the Cleveland Summit on Education oversight committee, and the Kent State University College of Education Dean’s advisory committee. For his service as the leader of the Cleveland school district, he was given awards by the Citizens League, Greater Cleveland Growth Association, Cleveland Shoes for Kids, National Conference of Christians and Jews, and Leadership Cleveland. Among other honors, Dr. Boyd was presented with honorary doctorates from Capital University, Cleveland State University and Baldwin-Wallace University. He was inducted into The Ohio State University College of Education Hall of Fame and a recipient of the University of Akron’s Distinguished Service Award. Other notable awards include the Ohio PTA Outstanding Educator Award, the Ohio Association of Colleges of Education Distinguished Award, the 1984 Executive Educator magazine North America’s Top 100 School Executives. In 1989, the Mississippi NAACP Vernon Dahmer Award. Other positions he held were president of the Buckeye Association of School Administrators, director of the American Association of School Administrators, and in 1982, when Congress created the National Assessment Governing Board, Dick was named as a charter board member. Dick always had a heart for the downtrodden, and when asked which of his many achievements he felt most satisfied, he named his work in Mississippi (the state with the highest poverty in this nation) and Cleveland (the city with the second highest poverty.)

Dick was an avid athlete for his entire life, continuing to play basketball until he was fifty, playing golf and competitive tennis, and running in races. He played in his school band, sang in the choir and was an avid fan of jazz big bands and music in general. In 2014, Dick and Mickee returned to Ohio to be near their three daughters.

In lieu of flowers, please consider a donation to Beck Center For the Arts or to arts/music venue of your choice.

Those wishing to be informed about those details should send an email to [email protected].