I talk to many education researchers, but none had the passion or conviction of Gerald Bracey, whose e-mails I occasionally shared with you here. He died suddenly in his sleep last week at age 69.
What I admired about Bracey is that he criticized people he once esteemed, including President Obama. His allegiance was not to any political party, but to what he saw as the truth of the matter.
Often, his e-mails to me were stern scoldings about buying the latest "garbage" from Arne Duncan or Kathy Cox. (There would have been a chastising e-mail today from him on my blog entry yesterday on Duncan's speech here in Atlanta.)
Affable and smart, Bracey was always willing to chat with me and show me the error of my ways.