Bruce McPherson’s understanding of the teaching craft made him indispensable to a fledgling Golden Apple Foundation that got its start with his help in the mid-1980s.
His intuition formed the keystone in a selection process that consistently has found the best educators among the thousands of teachers in the Chicago area.
Mr. McPherson, 70, died Thursday, Nov. 27, Thanksgiving Day, in his Beverly home of complications related to a heart arrhythmia.
“It was shattering in one sense to lose him,” his wife, Carolyn, said, “but the symbolism of Thanksgiving reminded us of the way he lived his life and how thankful all of us were for that.”
Mr. McPherson graduated from high school in the Rochester, N.Y., area and went on to the University of Rochester, where he met his wife. He graduated in 1955, married in 1956 and served in the U.S. Army from 1956 to 1958, after which his education career took off.
He taught for one year at Dake Junior High School in Rochester before the school offered him the position of principal. He worked as the principal for a year and decided he needed to get back into the classroom, his wife said.
The couple moved to East Aurora, N.Y., where Mr. McPherson taught for two years at East Aurora High School before he found himself serving as principal, she said. He would serve as principal for two years.
Five years later, the family moved to Chicago’s Hyde Park neighborhood so Mr. McPherson could pursue a doctorate in education at the University of Chicago.
In 1969, he was named the associate superintendent of the Philadelphia school system, his wife said.
A year later, he received his doctorate.
From Philadelphia, they moved to Ann Arbor, Mich., where he became the superintendent of schools in 1971.
After two years in Michigan, the family returned to Chicago and he went to work for a Ford Foundation project at the University of Chicago.
After completing the project, Mr. McPherson served as the director of the Laboratory Schools of the University of Chicago from 1976 to 1980.
After his work at the Laboratory Schools, he was hired by the University of Illinois at Chicago as a tenured professor in the College of Education in 1980. It was there where Martin “Mike” Koldyke, founder of the Golden Apple Foundation, spotted his education prowess.
“When I met him and talked to him, I was taken early on by his spirit and his knowledge of the educational field,” Koldyke said. “He realized that it was high time to put the spotlight on good teachers.”
Mr. McPherson served as a member of the foundation’s board from its inception.
“You always want to have a great linebacker on your team, and that’s what he was,” Koldyke said. “He was a real presence in our early deliberations.”
Despite his limited time teaching in the classroom, Mr. McPherson’s grasp of what it took to be an effective teacher proved to be an invaluable asset to the Golden Apple selection process.
“He had a tremendous understanding of the bigger picture,” said Elaine Schuster, president of the Golden Apple Foundation. “He had a way of connecting things that was just amazing.”
Many people, including his wife, think his contributions have led more gifted people into the teaching profession. “You just have the feeling that now there is a cadre of teachers out there that are master teachers,” she said.
In addition to his wife, Mr. McPherson is survived by three sons, Robert, James and Michael; a daughter, Anna Parr; his mother, Lois, and a brother, Philip.
A memorial service will be held at 11 a.m. Wednesday in Morgan Park United Methodist Church, 11030 S. Longwood Drive, Chicago.
