Randa Roen Nachbar

AMHERST – On May 29, 2017, Randa Roen Nachbar succumbed to pneumonia, a common complication of the type of degenerative neurological disorder that she had struggled with for several years.

Randa was deeply committed to early childhood education. Her professional roles included being a classroom teacher for pre-K through 4th Grade in several New York City schools (primarily PS 11), editor of Day Care and Early Education Magazine, consultant for educational development in the Town of South Hadley, parent educator in the Parents as Teachers program, and coordinator of the Amherst Family Center. She also created and led the Excursions program in Amherst, a series of walking-tour parent/child field trips and co-founded the Amherst Toy Library. She taught early childhood educators at both the graduate and undergraduate levels at Wheelock College, Westfield State College, and Greenfield Community College. She held a masters degree in Early Childhood Education from Bank Street College of Education and a bachelors degree in Child Development for Kirkland/Hamilton College.

Outside of her professional life, Randa's primary focus was the Pioneer Valley Cohousing Community in Amherst where she was one of the initial residents since it opened in 1994. She was also active in the wider Amherst community including participating in Round the World Women, Amherst Town Meeting, and the Jones Library Burnett Gallery Committee.

She is survived by her husband Daniel; her children Jara and Gavin; and vast arrays of friends, neighbors, colleagues, and of course the children, parents, and fellow teachers who she both taught and inspired. She will be dearly missed by all of them.

In lieu of flowers, the family requests that donations be made in her name to The Children's Defense Fund.

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