Jack Cassidy (Inducted 2010)
Biographical Statement
Jack Cassidy was Professor Emeritus at Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi. At that university, he was both Associate Dean of the College of Education and Director of the Center for Educational Development, Evaluation and Research (CEDER). He was also Professor Emeritus at Millersville University (PA). In addition, he served as the Executive Secretary of the Specialized Literacy Professionals Special Interest Group, a position he has held for almost 30 years. Jack was a former President of the International Literacy Association (formerly International Reading Association) and the Association of Literacy Educators and Researchers (formerly College Reading Association). He was also the first president of the Texas Association for Literacy Education (TALE) and the second president of the Diamond State Reading Association (DE), both of which groups he helped establish. The Distinguished Service Award from TALE is now named in his honor. He was the recipient of numerous awards in the field of literacy.
Cassidy authored scores of articles, books, and book chapters on literacy and gifted education, but is probably best known for his on-going yearly study of literacy trends and issues which debuted in 1997 as a column in Reading Today (now Literacy Today) and often entitled “What’s Hot, What’s Not in Literacy.” The columns have been widely cited as have his more in-depth pieces that have appeared in a number of journals including The Reading Teacher, the Journal of Adolescent and Adult Literacy, and Literacy Research and Instruction. In February of 2016, a Literacy Summit was held in San Antonio with the theme “Literacy Trends and Issues: Celebrating 20 Years of What’s Hot.”
Jack has been a classroom teacher at the elementary, middle and high school levels. He has also served as a school reading specialist at all those levels. For six years, he was the district K-12 reading supervisor in Newark, DE, home of the International Literacy Association.
Tribute
A Friend and a Mentor: ILA Remembers Past President Jack Cassidy
(Link to ILA Reading Today)
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In Memoriam, Jack Cassidy
If Jack Cassidy was in a crowded room at a conference, you knew it right away. He stood out in a crowd -- not just in his height and booming voice -- but more so in his presence and personality. Jack could work a crowd. You could count on him finding you – first with a warm welcome and soon after with something important he wanted to convince you to do.
Jack was a teacher, a teacher educator, and an advocate for anything related to the work of reading professionals. The IRA standards, the work of specialization groups, and anything related to state and local councils of IRA were his territory. IRA was family to Jack.
I first heard of Jack Cassidy in the form of a warning. I had been elected to the IRA Board and was about to enter our first meeting. A more senior board member said to me “Expect, that Jack Cassidy will be attending the meeting and taking lots of notes. He likes to keep his eye on everyone and everything. He isn’t allowed to speak, but you will hear from him for sure.” He was there (and at every meeting during my term of office). I came to appreciate how important the organization its work was to him. Whenever he felt IRA was straying from its processes or its purposes, he would speak out loudly as with the change of the IRA name, as with the Board usurping power, as with cautions around elections.
While many associate Jack Cassidy with “What’s Hot” (and rightfully so) that was not, in my mind, his biggest professional contribution. He was unique in his care for IRA and its members. He was the conscience for the organization in the good times and in the bad. He was tough when he needed to be.
Misty and I became close friends with Jack as he moved to Texas. We visited with Jack and Drew both in Corpus and at his condo in San Antonio. He was a first-rate bridge player, a collector of fine Chinese artifacts, a frequent visitor to the beaches of Kauai, but never too far away from working the crowd and serving as a guardian for our profession.
My favorite memory was a phone call from Jack to Misty as we were driving to participate in the annual literacy conference he organized every year in Corpus Christi. The phone was bluetoothed to the car speakers and announced loudly: “Call from Jack Ass City”. On hearing our report of the name change, Jack burst into this huge laugh that still lingers in our ears.
Jack is a huge loss to us personally but also to us professionally. We are grateful for the times we shared. In his absence we are left to ask, who will take up his critical work with ILA moving forward?
Jim Hoffman (delivered at the RHF annual meeting 2021)