Deceased Date: August 6, 2011
Last known residence was In Oakland, Calif
He married his wife on 8-23-1980 in Alameda, Ca
Robert Forest Whitlow Educator Robert Forest Whitlow, 62, whose innovative methods, tireless energy and irrepressible good humor inspired learning and delight in thousands of Bay Area schoolchildren since the 1970's, died August 6 at his home in Oakland. Mr. Whitlow taught at schools in Hayward, Oakland and Berkeley. Many former students, along with parents, friends and family formed a support network for him last year after he was diagnosed with cardiac amyloidosis. Bob attended the University of California Santa Barbara. He was forever grateful that in the dormitory he was grouped with students who were musical as he loved music and played the guitar. After graduating as a religious studies major from the UC Santa Barbara in 1971, Bob moved to the Bay Area and began teaching while earning his credential at Cal State Hayward. He began his career in education at Hayward's Laurel Elementary School in 1974, where he pioneered a K-6 parent co-op named Charquin. He felt that schools too often thwarted learning, promoted dullness, and rewarded passivity instead of challenging students to think critically. Instead of standardized testing and strict discipline, Whitlow used play and humor as tools in the classroom. A spinal-cord injury in 1980 left Bob a paraplegic. His passion for life, his humor and most of all his love for teaching drove him through recovery and back into the classroom just a year later. Always the teacher, he continued to educate by demonstrating his ability to be active, motivated and inspired despite his disability. Work in the Charquin classroom led Bob into broader work on curriculum and learning methods, backed up with a Masters in Education received at the University of California Berkeley in 1986. In 1991 he moved on to the Equals program at the Lawrence Hall of Science at UC Berkeley. There he worked on curriculum for teachers, co-authored a book on Mathematics and Language, and traveled a great deal, presenting in workshops all over the country including the annual Asilomar math conference. From 1992 to 2006 Bob served as headmaster at the Aurora School in Oakland. In 2006 he left Aurora School to teach 6th grade at Martin Luther King Middle School in Berkeley. He taught there until June 2010. Bob was born in San Pedro, California. He was married to Kathleen Lewis Whitlow of Oakland from 1980 to 2003. He is survived by their daughters Kate and Jessica, older brother Bill and sister-in-law Jeanne of Seattle Washington and younger brother Brady and sister-in-law Katie of Folsom California; nieces Kristina and Madeline and nephews Scott Robert and Jackson. He loved maps, geography, dogs, trivia, travel, telling jokes and most of all his family. His passion for working with kids, teaching and learning was undeniable. A Celebration of Life will be held on Saturday, August 27, 2011 at 2pm at the Joaquin Miller Community Center inside Joaquin Miller Park at 3594 Sanborn Drive in Oakland. In lieu of flowers donations can be made to The Spinal Cord Society, amyloidosis research or we encourage you to help save a life and donate blood at the American Red Cross.
Published in San Francisco Chronicle on August 14, 2011
GGHS 1965
