Former Oceanside educator W. Tucker dies

William Tucker, a longtime educator and school administrator, led students and staff of the Oceanside School District through some tumultuous events during the 1970s, his daughter said Saturday.

Kathleen Cummings recalls the day she was attending Oceanside High School and fellow students staged a walkout in response to the fatal 1970 shooting of Vietnam War protesters at Kent State University.

Her father's response, she said, was to hold a "day of discussion" so students could talk about their concerns. His view, she said, was that "students need to express themselves, to think. Education is more than book learning. We're building minds."

A longtime resident of Rockville Centre, Tucker, 89, died Feb. 14 at the New York State Veterans' Home at St. Albans, Queens, following a long illness.

In 1974 angry parents opposed a "family life education" program in Oceanside. So the district allowed parents to remove their kids from the sex education portion, according to a Newsday report. Tucker said that "in a matter of a few years, virtually no one was availing himself of that option."

Tucker was a gentle man, leading by example, said Frank Januszewski, 82, a retired coach and physical education teacher at Oceanside High School. What's more, Tucker always had time for people and was "a great listener" - not bossing or interrupting. "I used to call him 'Wild Bill,' " said Januszewski, "because he wasn't that. I got a laugh."

Tucker was born Jan. 14, 1922, in upstate Kingston. He enrolled in what is now the University at Albany, but his studies were interrupted by World War II, when he served with the Marines in China and Guam.

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He later completed his studies and in 1967 went on to receive a doctor of education degree from New York University.

In 1949 he started teaching in Oceanside, then rose up the administrative ranks, being named superintendent in 1969.

"Everybody knew they would get a fair deal" in discussions with him - staff, union members, janitors - said longtime friend and neighbor Grace Pisarro Barasch, a retired art and home economics teacher at Oceanside Junior High School.

Since retiring in 1982, he supervised student teachers and administrative interns at Molloy College, Queens College and the C.W. Post Campus of Long Island University.

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Cummings, 57, said her father was also an avid reader of historical nonfiction as well as a consumer of news and current events. He told stories of earlier days when there was just one telephone in a house and people shared party lines.

Yet he became computer literate, even instant messaging with his grandchildren in college, she said.

Besides Cummings of Chesterfield, Mo., he is survived by his wife of close to 60 years, the former Dorothy Walejsio; a son, William J., 54, of Fairfield, Iowa; daughters Barbara Malavet, 50, of Rockville Centre and Jeanne Kallis, 45, of Foxboro, Mass; and eight grandchildren.

Funeral services have been held. Donations can be made to the Oceanside School District Scholarship Fund.