Robert W. Peebles (right) performed at a pep rally for teachers with band instructor Jack Dahlinger in Alexandria, Va.
(Fred Sweets/Washington Post/File 1983)
Robert Peebles, 83, school superintendent, clarinet player
Robert W. Peebles (right) performed at a pep rally for teachers with band instructor Jack Dahlinger in Alexandria, Va.
(Fred Sweets/Washington Post/File 1983)
Washington Post
/
July 3, 2009
- |
WASHINGTON - Robert W. Peebles, 83, an affable, jazz-playing school administrator who served in Boston and Marshfield before moving to Connecticut in the 1970s, died Tuesday at Inova Alexandria Hospital in Virginia. He had pneumonia.
A Boston native, Dr. Peebles began his career as a high school teacher in Darien, Conn. He later was executive director of the Education Collaborative for Greater Boston, a nonprofit group that provided education services, and school superintendent in Marshfield.
Dr. Peebles moved to Stamford, Conn., where he was superintendent for five years. In Stamford, a city of great contrasts in wealth and poverty, Dr. Peebles used a magnet school concept to attract white students to a predominantly black elementary school.
He was hired to lead the school district in Alexandria, Va., in 1980. His seven years as superintendent were marked by higher student test scores and relatively calm relations with the School Board and City Council - in large part because of his soft-spoken personality.
Former Mayor James P. Moran Jr. told the
Dr. Peebles, who played clarinet in a jazz group called Peebles’ Pebbles, disliked making speeches in front of teachers on the opening day of school. Instead, he kicked off opening day ceremonies by playing in a jazz combo.
Robert Whitney Peebles was born in Boston and grew up in Bourne, where his father was a school superintendent.
He served in the Navy Seabees in the Philippines during World War II, during which time he developed tuberculosis.
Later health problems included triple-bypass surgery weeks after he was named Alexandria schools chief.
He was a 1952 graduate of Boston University. He received a master’s degree in teaching from Harvard University in 1953 and a doctorate in education from New York University in 1967.
In Alexandria, Dr. Peebles was a founder of the Washington Area School Study Council, which includes all the region’s superintendents.
After retiring as superintendent, he became the study council’s executive director and also worked for the McKenzie Group, an educational consulting business.
His books included “School Desegregation: A Shattered Dream?’’
His marriage to Lois Querze Peebles ended in divorce.
Dr. Peebles leaves his wife of 27 years, Elisabeth of Alexandria; three children from his first marriage, James Q. and Katherine N. Gordon, both of Stamford, and Robert S. of Montclair, N.J.; a stepson, Scott Burr of Fairfax County, Va.; and four grandchildren.
© Copyright 2009 Globe Newspaper Company.
