WHITE, Sheldon H(arold) 1928–2005

OBITUARY NOTICE—See index for CA sketch: Born November 30, 1928, in New York, NY; died of heart failure March 17, 2005, in Boston, MA. Psychologist, educator, and author. White was an authority on developmental psychology whose research into how children learn greatly influenced the federal government's Head Start program and children's educational shows for public television. A Harvard University graduate who completed his B.A. in 1951, he went on to earn an M.A. from Boston University in 1952 and a Ph.D. from Iowa State University in 1957. White then taught psychology at the University of Chicago through the early 1960s along with one year teaching at Harvard. In 1965 he returned to Harvard as an associate professor, eventually becoming Roy E. Larsen Professor of Educational Psychology in 1968. He retired from the Harvard faculty in 2001. During the 1960s, White conducted research that would later profoundly influence the Head Start program for early education; in fact, he chaired the Department of Health and Human Services committee that evaluated the program from 1991 to 1993. From 1968 until 1970, he worked with the Children's Television Workshop as it developed the landmark educational series for children Sesame Street. In addition, White served as a consultant to the RAND Corporation, the Huron Institute, and the Educational Testing Service. He was the author or coauthor of several books, including To End a Silence—Or Begin One (1976) and Childhood: Pathways of Discovery (1979).

OBITUARIES AND OTHER SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Chicago Tribune, March 21, 2005, section 4, p. 9.

Los Angeles Times, March 21, 2005, p. B7.

New York Times, March 26, 2005, p. B6.