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John Feldhusen Obituary
May 5, 1926 - June 14, 2009
John Frederick Feldhusen passed away on June 14, 2009, at his home at Plymouth Harbor. A memorial service will be held at 10:30 a.m. Thursday at Saint Armands Key Lutheran Church, 40 North Adams Drive, Sarasota.
John was born in Waukesha, Wis., on May 5, 1926. In 1954 he married Hazel Artz; John and Hazel enjoyed 52 years of marriage; Hazel passed away on Sept. 1, 2007.
John is survived by two daughters, Anne Feldhusen of Palo Alto, Calif., and Jeanne Feldhusen of Tenafly, N.J. John was a loving husband, father and grandfather and will always be remembered for his special attention to his grandchildren, Emily and Christopher Jager (children of Jeanne Feldhusen and Gerald Jager); Emily and Christopher will miss their Grandpa very much.
John grew up in Wisconsin and attended University of Wisconsin where he earned a B.A., M.S. and Ph.D. He started his academic career at the University of Wisconsin as an assistant professor and subsequently in 1961 he accepted a position as associate professor of educational psychology at Purdue University in West Lafayette, Ind. John spent almost four decades in West Lafayette, where he retired as a distinguished professor in gifted education at Purdue University. Dr. Feldhusen was the founder of the Purdue Gifted Education Resource Institute in 1977 and continued as its director until 1995. During his distinguished career he had wide influence on gifted education and published more than 300 articles, chapters and books. He enjoyed mentoring and collaborating with his colleagues and was thankful for the many, many good friends he made in his career. A few of his awards include the International Award for Excellence in research from the World Council for Gifted and Talented Children in 1997 and the Mensa Lifetime Achievement Award in 2002. He also served as the editor of Gifted Child Quarterly and served as the association editor for the NAGC.
Contributions may be made to Saint Armands Key Lutheran Church at the address above.
Arrangements are by Toale Brothers Funeral Home.
To plant trees in memory, please visit the Sympathy Store.
Memories and Condolences
for John Feldhusen
Joseph . Ewnzulli
June 12, 2022
John watruly one of the great leaders in gifted education and also produced some of the et graduate students in the field. He was the proverbial "Nice Guy" and was one of my dearest friends.
Ariel Baska
July 12, 2009
I will never forget Uncle John, one of the funniest and kindest men I've ever known. My mother knew him as a professional colleague and mentor. I knew him as an "adopted" relative who always sent me coins and business cards from exotic lands to add to my collections, always addressed to Ariella of JVTB. The kindly mentor of Purdue will always hold a cherished place in the hearts of everyone in my family.
Lois Huffman
June 26, 2009
I was sorry to learn that Dr. Feldhusen had passed away. JFF, as he was known to many in the Gifted Education Resource Institute in the mid-1980s, expected much of his graduate students--and almost always got it! His high standards and tacit belief in our ability to succeed are a priceless legacy.
May he rest in peace.
Jo Wade
June 26, 2009
My deepest sympathy to the whole family! It is really difficult to lose a loved one and to have both of your parents gone is additionally hard. My wishes are for great memories and opportunities to share those with family.
(I am a high school classmate of Jeanne, Joann Wilson, back then.)
Carol Tieso
June 25, 2009
I first met Dr. Feldhusen at NAGC during my first year as a doctoral student. I was sitting outside of the ballroom, waiting for a friend and trying to remember where I put my lunch ticket. Dr. Feldhusen came up to me and asked if I were going to lunch? I admitted that I had forgotten my lunch ticket; he told me that he and his friend were not going to use theirs, so he gave them to me. My friend and I went to lunch as "John Feldhusen" and "Julian Stanley." I will never forget his kind and gentle ways.
Pam Clinkenbeard
June 25, 2009
My condolences to John's family and to his vast network of friends, colleagues, and former students. In 1977 I was one of John's first doctoral students in gifted education (along with Penny Kolloff and Ann Robinson). As a young graduate student I was initially awed by my major professor, but quickly learned that John was unfailingly supportive and encouraging to his students. He also extended his encouragement to others' students and to colleagues, and was particularly active in encouraging international scholars to become active in NAGC. He will be missed!
David Henry Feldman
June 25, 2009
John took my work seriously when few others did. An open minded, thoughtful, and forward thinking scholar, he leaves a legacy of good work.
Chris Yoon
June 24, 2009
Dr. Feldhusen was my doctoral advisor and mentor. I first met him in 1994 during the Asia Pacific Conference in gifted education in Seoul Korea. There I told him that I wanted to study at Purdue and he kindly sent me all materials I need to submit. I still remember his gentle gestures and a warm tone of voice explaining his Purdue programs.
I talked to him on the phone in 2005 and he wanted to talk about a joint publication with me. He was a true scholar and a pioneer in the field of gifted education. I am very proud to say that I was one of John's doctoral students.
Sandra Kay
June 23, 2009
Dear family members,
John Feldhusen was one of our field's giants. Although it was more than 30 years ago, I remember the day A. Harry Passow introduced us. The genuine warmth and welcome into the field from John, a scholar from another university, had a profound effect on me. He continued to mentor -even those of us who were never formally his student. I would guess that every author was offered growth from his encouragement as an editor and most schoolchildren have benefitted from his ideas somewhere along the line.
All of these long-lasting effects on a field are the result of one man's gentle kindness and unselfish brilliance. I will always treasure his encouragement of my work. How fortunate I have been to have known him.
Condolences to all.
Steve Owen
June 23, 2009
In the late 1960s, I was one of John's doctoral students in an educational research training program. It took me some time to understand that John's pushing, pushing, pushing was simply a reflection of his own high standards. I am pleased to say that, for the past 40 years, I have been trying to imitate John's use of high standards. His legacy is much wider, of course, but it was John's self-application of high standards that helped him to contribute so much, to so many persons, over a long professional life.
Franz Mönks
June 22, 2009
I met John and Hazel in 1981 on an international conference in Berlin. What a wonderful couple! John invited me to the NAGC conference in 1982 in New Orleans. This conference was a professional and personal ground breaking experience: from then on I dedicated my work completely to gifted education.
I remember John as an initiator, honest and great personality.
Bonnie Cramond
June 21, 2009
Dr. Feldhusen was truly a scholar and a gentleman. His kind and attentive editing helped me so much when I was a new writer in the field of gifted education. His generosity of spirit and stately presence will be sorely missed.
Nina K. Buchanan
June 20, 2009
Aloha and Condolences to John's family.
John has been my inspiration and mentor since I met him in 1976 at an NAGC conference. With his encouragement I applied for and was accepted into the Ph.D. program at Purdue. Many factors influenced my decision but one of the biggest was that all of the graduate students I met during that conference spoke highly of John and the collaborative, collegial environment he created at the Gifted Resource Institute.
I have always felt fortunate to have worked closely with John and know that he a big reason I have been successful in higher education.
He will be sorely missed.
George Elliot said "Our deeds determine us, as much as we determine our deeds."
John's deeds speak volumes.
June 20, 2009
John was a man who enjoyed the intellectual life deeply and lived it well. He loved teaching and writing, I believe, equally well and modelled both superbly for others to emulate. His spirit of inquiry and his ethos of care will live on in my memory as gifts he bestowed on me many years ago when we first met in 1976. He and Hazel were friends to me and Lee and to our daughter Ariel for many years subsequent to that meeting, enjoying a social as well as a professional relationship that spanned over 30 years. I was never formally his student yet learned much from him as an informal mentor and friend.
I will lift a glass in his honor when I return to Colorado next month, a place he loved dearly and where the Keystone group spent many joyful hours discussing the big ideas of gifted education.
Ave atque vale, carus amicus.
Joyce VanTassel-Baska
Jim Webb
June 19, 2009
Although I never studied formally with John, I considered him to be one of my mentors in the field. His patient and kind focus on rigor inspired many others in the field of gifted education. We will greatly miss him; he was a generous person who inspired many.
Del Siegle
June 19, 2009
While John has passed, his contributions to the field of gifted education will continue for generations.
Sally Reis
June 19, 2009
Although I was not one of John's students, I always felt as if he was a mentor and friend. In my early years in our field, John encouraged me and gave me opportunities for leadership in NAGC. He was a kind man and when Hazel and John visited Joe and me in Mystic, showed his interests in gardening, cooking, and our children! He lived a life to be admired, as he was loved by his family, respected and liked by his peers and colleagues, and he made a difference in the lives of many children and teachers by his work. He will be remembered with love.
Eunice Alencar
June 19, 2009
Dr. Feldhusen was my advisor and my mentor. He inspired me with his model and words. I am very grateful to him for the support and help during the period I studied at Purdue from 1969 to 1971. He will continue alive in my memory and in my heart.
Mu condocences to his family.
Jim Gallagher
June 19, 2009
John was a steady giant in a field much given to fads. He was a model of integrity and no nonsense. We will miss his competent hand on the wheel in the years ahead.
June 19, 2009
Although from a very distant place and culture I always admired the work of prof. Feldhusen. His contribution to the field of gifted education iluminated and inspired many people from abroad the USA.
When a such recognized person passes away one feels a kind of orphanage. But this feeling has to give way to the convincement that his memory will be with us and his work will continue to be a reference for all.
We will pray for him and put our efforts for gifted education to his support from heaven.
Our condolences to his family.
Rest in peace.
Jane Piirto
June 18, 2009
John Feldhusen was a kind and influential leader in the field of gifted education. I first met him when he taught a summer course at Northern Michigan University in the late 1970s, when I first entered the field. We exchanged letters and talked at conferences thereafter. He will be missed.
David Dai
June 18, 2009
John was my advisor at Purdue. I cannot imagine I could get this far professionally without his support. I can't remember how many letters of recommendations and support he wrote for me on various occasions. The last time I met with him was in 1999, on my way to Missouri to assume my new job, and he told me to look out diligently for Ericsson and Simonton's work, which I did and am still doing these days. We talked on the phone in 2005, and he was already ill at the time but still urged me to send him my articles. I remember writing a note telling him I would visit with him after NAGC in Tempa in 2008, but, with great regret, an obligation in China prevented me from going to Florida. I really wish he knew I have a forthcoming book dedicated to him. He always had great confidence in his students' potential to make contributions to the field and never spared the most flattering words when it happened. He has inspired me to do my best. He will live on in my heart and memory.
John Houtz
June 18, 2009
I am one of many students who owes his career to John Feldhusen. Without his guest seminar at Bucknell during my Master's program, I would not have pursued a Purdue doctorate. He encouraged me to apply, mentored me throughout my Purdue studies, and continued to publish with me for years since. His was a life that formed mine. My prayers go to Jeanne and Anne and your families. I will always recall your father and mother with fondness.
Paula Hillmann
June 18, 2009
My condolences to John's family. He was a truly great man, and a leader & pioneer in the field of gifted education and talent development . He will be deeply missed, and not forgotten.
I met John for the first time in the mid-1980's when I was a graduate student in Educational Psychology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. It was then that I found out about his ties to the UW and to Waukesha, Wisconsin - also my hometown. We shared stories and laughs. I am blessed to have known such a brilliant and kindly man.
Rick Olenchak
June 18, 2009
John Feldhusen will be remembered by many as the quintessential combination of scholar and gentleman. There have been few in our field -- or in any field for that matter, who have so consistently devoted themselves to the nurturing of the field by carefully nurturing the people in it. From students to colleagues to parents to gifted and talented children themselves, he never forgot that whatever we do in life, we must never forget the call to scaffold and enhance one another. His legacy lives on in the many whom he touched, and our field has been strengthened substantially because of his efforts.
Joe Renzulli
June 18, 2009
One of the true pioneers and leaders in the field of gifted education, and at the same time, one of the kindest and most thoughtful persons who always took the time to help his colleagues and graduate students in any way he could. He leaves a legacy of scholarship, friendship, and fellowship among those who kenw and worked with him.
The Photo, from my Historical Lecture of well-know leaders in the field, is John as an aspiring actor in his college days.
Sandy Wasserman
June 18, 2009
John enriched us all with his knowledge and gentle manner, and his involvement in the field he loved. I will always remember a long conversation I had with him many years ago at a G/T conference, about my daughter and her placement, which then encouraged me to continue my own G/T professional education and career. His ideas and books will long influence the G/T community.
Nicholas Colangelo
June 18, 2009
John was indeed a scholar and a gentleman. His scholarship has permanently enhanced the field, and his caring and graciousness have enhanced all of us who knew him. Best wishes to family, friends and Purdue University.
June 18, 2009
Those who knew him will always remember the brilliance of his mind and the kindness of his heart. He was an inspiration to me as a researcher and as a mentor of up and coming scholars. Rena Subotnik, American Psychological Association
Jim Curry
June 17, 2009
John was a generous, gracious, and wise individual who greatly influenced the lives of many people. I truly appreciate the encouragement and mentoring that he shared with me. Bless you, John.
Dana Kelly
June 17, 2009
Dr. Feldhusen will be missed in spirit, but continue to be honored in my classroom daily. He had to have been proud of his legacy of infusing well-trained gifted educators into American culture. He imparted tremendous knowledge w/ great heart. I was inspired/endorsed in gifted by him in '86. Sincere condolences to his family & friends.
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