2018 -- H 8160

========

LC005607

========

     STATE OF RHODE ISLAND

IN GENERAL ASSEMBLY

JANUARY SESSION, A.D. 2018

____________

H O U S E   R E S O L U T I O N

EXTENDING DEEPEST CONDOLENCES ON THE PASSING OF RONALD A. WOLK

     Introduced By: Representatives Shekarchi, Mattiello, McNamara, Vella-Wilkinson, and
Solomon

     Date Introduced: May 03, 2018

     Referred To: House read and passed

     WHEREAS, It is with utmost sadness that this House has learned of the passing of

Ronald A Wolk, a champion of school reform and the founder of the national magazine

Education Week; and

     WHEREAS, Ronald Wolk was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, the son of the late

Alfred and Anna Wolk, and the brother of Carol Westphal. He is survived by Mimi McConnell,

and their children, Suzanne Wolk, Lauren Wolk and her husband, Richard Hall, and Cally Wolk

and wife, Denise. He was also the beloved grandfather of Ryland and Cameron Hall, Ashley

Wolk, and the late Dylan Wolk, and was the uncle of many nieces and nephews; and

     WHEREAS, From humble beginnings, Mr. Wolk worked tending graves, shoveling coal

and setting pins in a local bowling alley during his youth. While in his senior year of High

School, one of his teachers encouraged him to apply to college, thus setting him on the path to

become a life-long learner and a consummate advocate for education; and

     WHEREAS, Upon attaining his Bachelor's degree in Journalism from Westminster

College, and a Master's degree in Journalism at Syracuse University, Mr. Wolk worked as a

reporter and associate editor of the Johns Hopkins University Alumni Magazine, and

subsequently as a special assistant to the president of Johns Hopkins. In 1968, he became an

assistant on President Johnson's National Commission on the Causes and Prevention of Violence;

and

     WHEREAS, In 1969, Mr. Wolk moved to Rhode Island to serve as the Vice President for

university relations at Brown University, and in 1978, moved to Washington, D.C., to become

president of Editorial Projects in Education; and

     WHEREAS, In 1981, Mr. Wolk launched Education Week, which immediately earned its

reputation by breaking a national education story on the Reagan administration's plan to

effectively dismantle the country's newly-formed Cabinet-level Education Department. Over the

next 16 years, the newspaper became the leading institution in education journalism; and

     WHEREAS, In the 1960s, Mr. Wolk helped found The Chronicle of Higher Education. In

1997, he retired and returned to Rhode Island, where he remained active in school reform, helping

to establish the Rhode Island Business Roundtable and serving on its executive committee until

2004. In addition, he was an adjunct faculty member and a member of the advisory committee of

the Annenberg Institute for School Reform at Brown University, as well as serving on numerous

national education organization boards; and

     WHEREAS, One of Mr. Wolk's proudest achievements was his work with the Big

Picture Company, which created an alternative high school in Providence called the Met School.

Illuminating her father's legacy, his daughter stated, "His belief was you had to engage kids and

then they would become life-long learners"; now, therefore be it

     RESOLVED, That this House of Representatives of the State of Rhode Island and

Providence Plantations hereby extends deepest condolences on the passing of Ronald A. Wolk.

He will forever be remembered for the strides he made in the educational experience of our

nation's youth; and be it further

     RESOLVED, That the Secretary of State be and hereby is authorized and directed to

transmit a duly certified copy of this resolution to Mimi McConnell and Family.

========

LC005607

========

LC005607 - Page 2 of 2