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  September 20, 2004

Former Education Professor, Bruce Hood, Dies

Bruce Lamont Hood, a retired education professor, died August 18 in Stigler, Okla. He was 68.

An authority on the philosophy, history, and practice of teaching, Hood came to UConn in 1967 during an expansion of its education school. He received his doctorate from the University of Kansas and taught at Kansas, Kansas State University, and UCLA.

He was an authority on German and Greek philosophers and an avid reader of Mark Twain and Kurt Vonnegut. He retired in 1990.

Barry Sheckley, head of the department of educational leadership, worked with Hood in the early 1980's. He says he still holds a deep respect for him.

"He was a true philosopher of education in that he embodied the very ideals that he espoused in his teaching, writing, and his research," Sheckley said. "His death represents a great loss for the University, as well as the entire field of education."

Hood was a country music enthusiast. As a young man, he played guitar in Oklahoma honky-tonks and at the Grand Ole Opry in Nashville. After retiring to his native Oklahoma, he began playing his 1955 Martin guitar again, in local bars and VFW halls.

He leaves two sons, Jeffrey L. Hood of Galt, Calif., and James B. Hood of Homer, Alaska: a daughter, Susan Rae Hood of Hartford; and two grandsons.