GODDARD COLLEGE FOUNDER, R.S. PITKIN, SUCCUMBS AT 85
MONTPELIER -- Royce Stanley Pitkin, who founded Goddard College in Plainfield and then saw his educational. innovations and progressive philosophy take seed across the nation, has died. He was 85.
Pitkin's progressive experiment with Goddard, which he started in 1936, gained him wide respect and attention in educational circles.
After serving as teacher and administrator in public schools in Groveton and New London, N.H., and Hyde Park and Wallingford in Vermont, he came to Goddard Seminary in Barre in 1935 to establish a junior college and in 1936 became president of Goddard Seminary and Junior College.
Under his leadership the institution developed into Goddard College and moved to the Greatwood Farms in Plainfield in 1938. During his 31 years as president, the college became nationally known as a leader in curriculum experimentation and in the education of adults.
Goddard College President Jack Lindquist said Pitkin was as "close to a mentor as I've ever had."
"It had to do with digging deeper into yourself, he asked the hard questions. He always expected more than you answered. The greatest influence was his personal nature, students experienced the caring challenge of his personality," Lindquist said.
Pitkin died Saturday at the Medical Center Hospital in Burlington.
