Dr. Lisa Kuhmerker, Professor, Educator, and Founder of the AME

In Memoriam

Dr. Lisa Kuhmerker died April 29, 1998 at the Palliative Care Center at Beth Israel-Deaconess Medical Center in Boston, Massachusetts. Born in Vienna, Austria, Lisa emigrated to the United States in 1938. She lived in the New York City area until the mid-1980's, when she moved to Cambridge to work with Lawrence Kohlberg at Harvard University's Center for Moral Development and Education. In recent years, she divided her time between Cambridge, Massachusetts, Sarasota, Florida and the home she dearly loved in New Lebanon, New York. She was 71 years old.

A graduate of Brooklyn College, Dr. Kuhmerker also received a Masters and a Doctorate of Education and Psychology from Yale University. After several years of teaching at Mills College in New York City, Dr. Kuhmerker became a Professor of Education at Hunter College in New York City, retiring in 1986.

In 1976, she founded and served as the first president of the Association for Moral Education, which is dedicated to bringing together professionals interested in the moral dimensions of educational theory and practice. The Association established the Kuhmerker Award in her honor, in 1982, to recognize individuals who have made outstanding contributions to the field of moral education.

Dr. Kuhmerker established the Moral Education Forum and was its editor for twenty years. She was also on the Board of the Journal of Moral Education in England, published several books on the theory and practice of moral education and traveled extensively to work with educators all over the world, including those in the former Soviet Union.

Dr. Kuhmerker was a member of the Harvard Institute of Learning in Retirement.

Lisa is survived by her loving companion, Kingsley Sanders; her children, Kathryn Kuhmerker Appel of Niskayuna, New York and Peter Kuhmerker of Alexandria, Virginia and their spouses Steven Appel and Lynne Kuhmerker; her three granchildren, Carolyn, Lauren and Jared; and, her sister, Doris Marmorek of Jackson Heights, New York.

In 1997, Lisa established a charitable foundation to foster activities that would make the world a better place in which to live. It was her hope that this foundation would give individuals the "gifts of time" they needed to bring this about. In recognition of her wishes, her family requests that donations be made to the Gifts of Time Charitable Foundation, 2452 Hilltop Road, Niskayuna, New York 12309.