Richard “Dick” A. Gibboney, professor emeritus at the University of Pennsylvania Graduate School of Education (GSE), died in Indianapolis, Indiana on January 24. He was 90.

He graduated from Altoona High School in 1945, then served in the U.S. Navy. He received a bachelor’s degree from Pennsylvania State University in 1951. He then taught at a progressive public elementary school in Jackson, Michigan where his love of education took off, and he met his wife Roberta. He earned his master’s degree in education from Wayne State University in Detroit, Michigan in 1955 and his doctorate of education at George Peabody College, now Vanderbilt Peabody, in 1957. 

Before coming to Penn, he served in the Pennsylvania Department of Education as director of curriculum development and then as Pennsylvania Deputy Superintendent of Public Instruction from 1957 to 1965. He was the Vermont Commissioner of Education from 1965 to 1967.

Dr. Gibboney was appointed visiting professor at GSE in 1967. He was then appointed associate professor. Two years later, Dr. Gibboney was awarded the Lindback Foundation Award for Distinguished Teaching (Almanac May 1969). He served on the Faculty Senate Executive Committee in 1994-1995. He joined Penn’s Twenty-five Year Club (Almanac November 3, 1992) and taught here until 1999 when he became professor emeritus (Almanac May 18/25, 1999).

Dr. Gibboney was founder and president of the consulting firm Richard A. Gibboney Associates, Inc. in the 1970s. He was a strong proponent of John Dewey’s philosophy of education and an active member of the John Dewey Society, Phi Delta Kappa and other professional and honorary organizations.

He published three books, Toward Intellectual Excellence: Some Things to Look for in Classrooms and Schools (1981); The Stone Trumpet: A Story of Practical School Reform, 1960-1990 (1994); and What Every Great Teacher Needs to Know: Practical Principles for Effective Teaching (1998) and many other written works.

He is survived by his wife of 64 years, Roberta “Bobbie”; children, Richard, Jr. and Diane G. Carr; grandchildren, Megan and Emily Carr; and sister, Phyllis Hultman.