We learn with great sadness of the death of Professor Seymour (Shlomo) Fox, one of the most creative and effective leaders in the field of Jewish education of the past century.  First at the Jewish Theological Seminary in the United States and then at the Hebrew University and the Mandel Center in Israel, Seymour Fox was a larger-than-life figure, pioneering and stimulating enormous innovations in the field of Jewish education. "Vision" was his watchword and the field could have had no greater visionary.    Jon Levisohn of Brandeis University has penned the following sketch of his career:

Seymour's career in education and Jewish education was long and distinguished.  He was a founder of the Melton Research Center at the Jewish Theological Seminary and a leading figure at Camp Ramah in the 1960s, was director of the School of Education at the Hebrew University in the 1970s where he was also a founder of the Melton Centre for Jewish Education in the Diaspora, and served as advisor to Israel's Ministry of Education.  He began working full-time for the Mandel Foundation in 1984.  He was a guiding visionary behind the Commission on Jewish Education in the late 1980s, the Mandel School for Educational Leadership, the Mandel Jerusalem Fellows program, and the Mandel Leadership Institute, as well as the Mandel Foundation's initiatives at Hebrew University and here at Brandeis.  And of course, he was responsible for the Visions of Jewish Education Project.  In each of these projects, Seymour had a profound and lasting influence on dozens or even hundreds of leading educational practitioners and theorists.

A devoted student of Joseph Schwab at the University of Chicago, and of other luminaries such as Ralph Tyler and Bruno Bettelheim, Seymour first worked on Freud and published “Freud and Education” in 1975.  In 1977, he co-edited “From the Scholar to the Classroom: Translating Jewish Tradition into the Curriculum;” in 1983, he edited “Philosophy for Education;” and in 1990, he co-edited “A Time to Act”.  Other publications included "Vision at the Heart: Lessons from Camp Ramah on the Power of Ideas in Shaping Educational Institutions" in 1997, and "Jewish Education & Jewish Continuity: Prospects & Limitations," with Israel Scheffler, in 1998.  In 2003, the Visions of Jewish Education Project published the volume “Visions of Jewish Education,” of which Seymour was co-author and co-editor.  And just last year, on the occasion of his 75th birthday, he was honored with the publication of a two-volume festschrift entitled “Educational Deliberations,” edited by Mordecai Nisan and Oded Schremer.

We extend our deepest condolences to Seymour's wife, Sue, his children and extended family, and to all those whom Seymour helped and mentored during his long effective and productive career. May his memory be for an eternal blessing.  

Jonathan D. Sarna, Chair H-Judaic

Jonathan D. Sarna
Director,  Hornstein: The Jewish Professional Leadership Program @ Brandeis
Joseph H. & Belle R. Braun Professor of American Jewish History
Department of Near Eastern & Judaic Studies
Brandeis University, Waltham, Mass.