IN MEMORIAM: Dr. Ruth Love, 90

By Dr. Martha C. Taylor

Ruth Burnet Love was born, on April 22, 1932, in Lawton, Okla., and passed away on June 2, 2022, in Oakland. As I reflect on the life and legacy of Dr. Ruth Love, her achievements, aptitude, and character, she cast a wide shadow that not only touched the lives of young people, she helped to shape them into achievers of excellency.

Dr. Love, the widely admired educator, lived a long life filled with quality for self and others. Love says life is a gift. “We all have an awesome responsibility not to waste time.”

She gave the highest and best we can give to life; the gift of self.

Dr. Love was the second of five children born to Alvin E. and Burnett C. Love, who migrated to Bakersfield, California during the 1940s. Love graduated from Bakersfield High School in 1950.

Love attended San Jose State University and received her Bachelor’s Degree in education in1954.In 1959 she received her Master’s Degree in Guidance and Counseling from San Francisco State University. In 1970, Love received her Ph.D. in Human Behavior and Psychology from the United States International University, San Diego.

Love’s interest in becoming a teacher began at an early age. She wanted to follow in the footsteps of her grandfather, Andrew A. Williams, who was a runaway slave at age twelve, and a teacher who founded the first school for African Americans in Lawton, Oklahoma.

In 1960 Dr. Love began her career in education as an adult education teacher with the Oakland Unified School District. Love became an exchange teacher sent to England in 1961. She also was a professor of education at San Francisco State University. Love was a counselor and consultant for a Ford Foundation project. She became a Fulbright Exchange Educator; participating in educational experiences in Ghana and England.

Dr. Love was a fierce advocate for underprivileged children during her career with Oakland Unified Schools District. She was appointed to several different positions as a consultant to the Bureau of Pupil Personnel Services and as Director of the Bureau of Compensatory Education from 1963 to 1965.

Love also served on the United States President’s Mental Health Commission and Board of Directors for the National Urban League from December 1962 until 1970. In August 1971, Love was chosen as Director of The Right to Read program with the U.S. Office of Health and Education in Washington, D.C. Following the assassination of Dr. Marcus Foster, the first African American Superintendent of the Oakland Unified School District, Dr. Love was appointed Superintendent from November 1975 until February 1981. Two of Love’s programs “Scholars and Artists” and “Face the Students” brought renowned achievers such as Alex Haley, Maya Angelou, James Baldwin, as well as Coretta Scott King to motivate and inform students.

Dr. Allie Whitehurst, an academic scholar worked with Dr. Love. She said Dr. Love provided the resources for teachers to continue their professional development to improve their teaching skills.

Congresswoman Barbara Lee honored Dr. Love, on April 23, 2015, in the House of Representatives. Lee saluted Dr. Love for a lifetime of service, “I will always remember the love, kindness, and caregiving Dr. Love provided her mother in spite of her busy schedule. She was an inspiration to me as I had the honor to care for my late mother in her golden years.”

Dr. Love continued her journey in higher academics and was appointed the first African American to serve as Superintendent for the Chicago Public Schools District from March 1981 until March 1985. In 1984 Dr. Love received an honorary Doctor of Literature degree from Atlanta University.

Love created and implemented the “Chicago Mastery Learning Program” during the 1981–82 school year. The program made it mandatory that all elementary school students’ reading and math courses be taught in more than one area, with students given an unlimited time to learn one area of the subject, and achieving eighty-five percent to be promoted to the next grade. Her proudest accomplishment was when the students reached the national norms on standardized tests.

In 1983, Love received the Horatio Alger Award and a Candace Award for Education from the National Coalition of 100 Black Women. She was named as one of 100 of the best school managers in North America by Educator Magazine in 1984.

The memory of the just is blessed…their works do follow them. Dr. Love left a memory that cannot be erased.

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