Necrology

Timothy Miller Melchior '62

Nov. 9, 1940-Nov. 16, 2023

Timothy Miller Melchior ’62 died on Nov. 16, 2023, in Apollo Beach, Fla. Born in White Plains, N.Y., on Nov. 9, 1940, and raised in Scarsdale, he came to Hamilton from Scarsdale High School. On the Hill, he was a member of Alpha Delta Phi fraternity, majored in art, and minored in education and English. 

On the soccer team for four years, he was chosen to be team captain in both his junior and senior years and was part of Block “H” Club throughout his time on the Hill. He was on both the Doers & Thinkers honor society as well as the Intramural Council in his sophomore year. He was also elected vice president of his class as a sophomore and held that office through his senior year. While a junior, he served on the Student Admissions Committee, and in his senior year was the vice president of his fraternity.

Public education became his profession, which was, in a sense, handed down from his father, who was principal of Scarsdale High School when Tim was a student there and who was later the superintendent of schools in Garden City, N.Y. From Hamilton, Tim moved to Port Washington, N.Y., to teach English at Weber Junior High School starting in the fall of 1962. That same year, he became engaged to Gail Ross of Rosslyn Heights on Long Island. They were married on Dec. 21, 1963, and would have a daughter and a son.

In 1964, he enrolled in Hofstra University’s graduate program in education with a minor in English, completing his Master of Science in education in 1966. The following year, he began doctoral studies in educational administration at New York University and continued graduate studies at both NYU and Hofstra in addition to teaching.

Tim’s career at Weber Junior High continued until 1970, but in 1969 he also became an intern in the Port Washington school district’s central administration. A year later, he was appointed director of secondary education for the school district, a position he would hold until 1978. Among other responsibilities, he oversaw the K-12 instructional program that included multi-age, multi-level grouping in elementary schools, team teaching in two junior high schools, and alternative education in the high school. 

From 1970 until 1977, Tim was also a member of an anti-drug abuse organization, Port Alert, Inc., including a term as its vice president beginning in 1971, and another as president a year later.

 Tim completed his doctoral studies, earning an Ed.D. in 1977. His dissertation was titled, “The Relationship of Integrative Complexity to the Perceptions and Attitudes of Students and Professional Staff in Conventionally Scheduled and Flexibly Modular Scheduled High Schools.” His findings would thereafter be foundational to his career in secondary school education.

In 1978, he became the principal of Valley Stream Memorial Junior High School in Valley Stream, N.Y. Beginning in 1979, he also served as an adjunct assistant professor at NYU, teaching courses in supervision and scheduling. For the latter subject, he traveled to San Juan, Puerto Rico, where the university had a satellite program.

 Over his 18-year tenure at Memorial Junior High School, Tim developed an international reputation as an advocate for the teaching of critical and lateral thinking at the junior high level. Critical thinking employs close analysis of evidence relevant to a particular problem and is also described as “vertical thinking.” Beginning with a hypothesis, one gathers evidence intended to validate that hypothesis, leading to a conclusion that can be considered most probable and employing an approach to thinking that is linear. 

Lateral thinking, by contrast, draws upon both reasoning and imagination. As opposed to a linear process, what it attempts to do is to identify multiple ways of solving a problem. One example is brainstorming, in which individuals in a group introduce various possible solutions, all of which at the outset are to be regarded as equally possible resolutions. The goal is to reveal novel approaches, question the root causes of a problem, and present alternate solutions.

Lateral thinking was strongly promoted by Edward de Bono, a physician by training, who conceived of the term and wrote extensively on it and other thinking processes while he was a member of, at different times, the faculties of universities in the United Kingdom, the U.S., South Africa, and his native Malta. Given his enthusiasm for the teaching of thinking, especially of the lateral sort, it is not surprising that Tim worked closely with de Bono.

Tim advocated for the cultivation of both kinds of thinking, beginning with the students at his school, and, later, more widely — both domestically and abroad. In 1982, with support from the U.S. Office of Education, he traveled to Kenya to discuss the issue of critical thinking skills with teachers there. That same year, he was appointed adjunct professor at the C.W. Post Center of Long Island University, teaching advanced topics on the psychology of teaching.

By this time, his marriage to Gail had ended, and on July 28, 1985, he married Susan Talbert Patt, a teacher at Port Washington Junior High School who had succeeded him in the school’s English department. Their family was a blend of her two children and his.

From the mid-1980s on, Tim served as a consultant to school systems in some 30 states, focusing on pedagogy designed to teach students how to think in more sophisticated ways. In 1986, he was one of 60 educators who attended a conference devoted to the challenges of cultivating thinking skills in secondary school students that was organized by the Association for Supervision and Curriculum at Wingspread, a conference center near Racine, Wis. That same year, he began a three-year term as a member of the conference planning committee of that organization. In 1987, he was named “educator of the year” by St. John University’s chapter of Phi Delta Kappa, an international organization for educators.

 Tim also assumed leadership positions in professional organizations within New York. As early as 1975, he was appointed to the New York State Bar Association’s law, youth, and citizenship advisory board to provide insight into matters of legal-related education. In 1976, he was appointed to the board of directors and executive committee of the Long Island association for supervision and curriculum development, rising to the office of president of the organization in 1980. In 1986, he was honored as its distinguished educator. For three years beginning in 1980, he was a member of the New York state examination review committee, which was tasked with reviewing all state secondary school examinations.

In 1996, both Tim and Susan retired from their careers in public education. During his final two years as principal, Tim had worked with an investment company to assist faculty and staff in establishing 403(b) tax-sheltered annuity plans as part of retirement planning. For a time, he was the firm’s vice president for marketing.

Upon his departure from Valley Stream Junior High, Tim was celebrated for his accomplishments over 18 years. The superintendent of the school district, Dr. Donald Howard, said: “Dr. Melchior has been a beacon for the entire school district, state, and nation. He has had tremendous influence.” He noted that Tim’s work to develop programs in thinking skills and decision making had permeated the curricula of the entire Valley Stream school district.

During their first years of retirement, Tim and Susan continued to reside in Glen Head, Long Island, where they had lived for a number of years. Their retirement plans included traveling abroad, with initial destinations to Hawaii, Australia, and New Zealand. A long-time golfer and tennis player, Tim continued to play regularly. Noted for his fast, left-handed serve, he would eventually step away from the courts and devote himself entirely to the links. In addition, he was a stamp collector and avid reader. 

In 2001, they relocated to a farm in Cooperstown, N.Y., where they initially devoted time and resources to landscaping. Tim also joined the Leatherstocking Golf Club where he could often be seen coaching others on the putting green. On the occasions of his class’s 40th and 50th reunions, Tim and Susan invited classmates to their home for a round of golf and dinner. Winters found them in Apollo Beach, Fla., near Tampa.

A donor to the Hamilton Fund and to the Priorities for Hamilton capital campaign, Tim greatly valued his time on the Hill. In his 40th reunion yearbook, he wrote: “Hamilton’s academic world inspired me and convinced me that I wanted to be an educator. I devoted my life to working with both students and adults in an attempt to help them learn and grow.” Ten years later, in his 50th reunion yearbook, he echoed those sentiments, stating that the College had provided “a thorough, challenging introduction to academics and academic values, a love for learning, [and] a deep interest in thinking and creativity.”

Timothy M. Melchior is survived by his wife, daughter, son, and four grandchildren. 

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