Sharp, Laure M(etzger) 1921-2005

OBITUARY NOTICE—See index for CA sketch: Born April 10, 1921, in Frankfurt, Germany; died of complications from a stroke February 1, 2005, in Rockville, MD. Sociologist and author. Sharp was a former researcher for the Bureau of Social Science Research who later became a consultant. Her family fled Europe during the rise of Nazi Germany and ultimately ended up in New York, where she graduated from Hunter College in 1944. Her first job was with the U.S. Office of Strategic Service in Washington, D.C., and during the early 1950s she worked for the Department of Labor. Sharp joined the Bureau of Social Science Research as an associate in 1953. She left that position to work for the District of Columbia Tuberculosis Association as its research director from 1956 until 1959, but returned to the Bureau as senior research associate and assistant director. While there she focused on educational research, so it was a natural transition for her in 1986 to become a consultant and project director for the department of educational accountability at the Montgomery County school system. Her final job was as senior consultant to the research corporation Westat from 1993 until 2000. Sharp was the author or coauthor of several books, including American Loans in the Postwar Period (1948), Education and Employment: The Early Careers of College Graduates (1970), and User-Friendly Handbook for Mixed Method Evaluations (1997), the last of which she coedited.

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Washington Post, February 8, 2005, p. B7.