Annabelle Most MARKOFF

MARKOFF, Annabelle Most
Annabelle Most Markoff, an innovator in the field of early childhood education died on Sunday, December 2 in Davis, CA. She was 91.
An elementary school teacher before and during the early years of her marriage, Markoff raised three children and then attended graduate school in special education during the late 1960s in a joint program between San Francisco State University and the University of California at Berkeley.
After obtaining her PhD, she joined the faculty at San Francisco State University in 1972 as an assistant professor in the Special Education Department. In 1976, she became an assistant professor in the San Jose State University Department of Special Education.
Throughout her career she consulted both inside the U.S. and internationally and, in 1979, with several of her colleagues she founded the Annabelle Markoff School in Belmont, CA.
She was the author of a number of diagnostic tests to inventory children's reading skills and published two books: 'Teaching low-achieving children reading, spelling, and handwriting: Developing perceptual skills with the graphic symbols of language' (1976) and 'Within Reach: Academic Achievement Through Parent-Teacher Communication' (1992).
In 1988, financial industry executive Charles Schwab and his wife Helen financed the creation of the Parents Educational Resource Center, and Markoff became the founding director. She retired in 1993.
Born in Los Angeles on September 1, 1921, she was the fourth child of Bernard Most and Bertha Salzman. She is survived by son John and daughter Ellen, both of San Francisco, CA, daughter Joan, of Sacramento, and two grandchildren, Hannah and Matthew.
The family requests that donations be made to Opening Doors, a Sacramento, CA organization dedicated to stopping human trafficking and supporting refugees (2118 K Street, Sacramento, CA 95816).