Arthur G. Ashur; taught generations in city

For 40 years, Arthur G. Ashur was the equivalent of a utility infielder in the Boston public schools. He taught every level, from kindergarten to Grade 12, and held a number of administrative posts.

''He was a go-to guy because he was reliable, industrious, and had a great deal of common sense," Dr. George Ashur of Milton said yesterday of his father, who died of cancer Wednesday in his Milton home. He was 81.

Mr. Ashur did not suffer fools gladly. ''He was a schoolmaster with a very clearly developed sense of what was and was not appropriate and expected his students to satisfy his expectations and do what was right," said his son.

Mr. Ashur was raised in the South End. He graduated from Boston College High School in 1941 after earning a full scholarship to the school by serving Mass to the Jesuit community every morning at 5:30.

''They called it an altar boy scholarship," said his son. ''He also chopped wood and delivered newspapers before serving Mass with the priests, who gave him breakfast after the service."

On weekends, he sold newspapers and shined shoes. ''He was a child of the Great Depression," said his son.

As a medical corpsman in the Navy during World War II, he served in the Pacific campaign and saw action in the Solomon Islands, Iwo Jima, and Leyte Gulf.

After the war, Mr. Ashur attended Boston College and graduated in 1949.

He remained in the Naval Reserve and was recalled to active duty during the Korean War, when he was on staff at the medical clinic in the Fargo Building in South Boston.

Mr. Ashur taught in the public schools from 1948 until his retirement in 1988. He earned a master's degree in education at Boston State College in 1960.

His career began in Roxbury and brought him to schools in many neighborhoods. He was a principal in Roslindale in the 1960s and was an assistant to several district superintendents over the years.

His longest teaching posts were in the William E. Russell and Roger Clapp schools in Dorchester, where he taught for a total of 15 years. ''He taught advanced classes for the kid who intended to go to the exam schools," said his son.

Mr. Ashur was a member of the advisory board of the New England Conservatory Preparatory School and directed the religious education program at Our Lady of the Annunciation Church in the South End.

An erudite man, Mr. Ashur could still recite the Latin he learned as a youngster when he served at Mass and was an organizer of the public schools' oratorical contests from 1962 to 1970.

''He was a patient, kind human being who had high expectations of himself, his children, and his students, and expected the people who were his beneficiaries of his knowledge to rise to the occasion," said his son.

In addition to his son, Mr. Ashur leaves his wife, Anne M. (Ganem); a daughter, Anita A. Wakim of Milton; two sons, Anthony of Vienna, Va., and Jeffrey of Newton; and eight grandchildren.

A funeral Mass will be said at 10:30 a.m. Monday in St. Agatha's Church in Milton. Burial will be in Milton Cemetery.