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December 02, 2006
2 p.m.
James S. Fitzgerald, Ed.D., the third president of Foothill College from 1973 through 1982, died Nov. 23. At the time of his death, he resided in Cambria. Memorial services are Saturday, Dec. 2, at 2 p.m. at the Community Presbyterian Church of Cambria, 2250 Yorkshire Drive in Cambria. For more service details, call (805) 927-4356.
Donations may be sent to your charity of choice in Jim’s name or the Cambria Music Foundation or the Alzheimer’s Foundation.
Under Dr. Fitzgerald’s leadership, Foothill’s Mountain View campus and Palo Alto off-campus programs prospered. Media-oriented courses, including those that incorporated audiotape and television programming, enabled Foothill courses to delve deeper into multidisciplinary subject matter. He was also responsible for greatly expanding the college’s independent study and tutorial programs.
“If it were not for Jim, Foothill College students would not have a Tutorial Center or Media Center, or have had any distance learning before the Internet; nor would we have our popular Middlefield Campus,” said Foothill College Interim President Penny Patz, Ed.D. “We owe Jim a great deal. He was a friend of Foothill and a lifelong advocate for students.”
“Jim Fitzgerald’s vision for Foothill College was before its time,” said Foothill’s recently retired fourth president, Bernadine Chuck Fong, Ph.D. “Besides the college’s satellite centers, he also established a distance learning program, which was primarily via television. This put Foothill in a leadership position in distance learning. Foothill’s involvement in televised video instruction, and in distance learning, was its precursor to Foothill’s clear leadership position established at the turn of the century (2000) and continuing through the first decade of the 21st century in online and Internet educational delivery.
“On-campus tutorial services were non-existent until President Fitzgerald promoted the establishment of Foothill’s Individualized Study Center (ISC). Foothill’s ISC housed its innovative Tutorial Center, which was one of the first of its kind in community colleges. Today, tutorial centers are now a critical part of every college,” Fong said.
Fitzgerald’s Foothill presidency also featured a host of financial challenges, including the passage of California’s Proposition 13 as well as rampant inflation. He responded to these crises by making the hard decisions required under cut-back and no-growth conditions.
Despite moratoriums on growth, in 1977, Fitzgerald saw the creation and implementation of Foothill’s Par Course, an outdoor exercise training circuit that remains popular with students and community members today.
Dr. Fitzgerald made campus history in 1981 as he helped turn the first shovel of earth for what would become the college’s Japanese Cultural Center. In addition to serving as a classroom, the center features an authentic Japanese tea room, which is constructed of unique building materials, including hand-crafted wooden nails.
A talented musician, Dr. Fitzgerald also hosted numerous celebrities who visited the Foothill campus to address or perform for Foothill students, including Ralph Nader, Ray Bradbury, Red Skelton, Jose Feliciano, George Carlin and Chuck Mangione.
Prior to his service at Foothill College, Dr. Fitzgerald was a music instructor and dean of instruction at Orange Coast College in Costa Mesa, California. He held bachelor’s, master’s and doctorate degrees from the University of Southern California.
Foothill College presidents in order of the years that they served include Dr. Calvin C. Flint, served from 1958 through 1967, and passed away in 1973; Dr. Hubert H. Semans, served from 1967 through 1973, and passed away in 1994; Dr. James S. Fitzgerald, served from 1973 through 1982, and passed away in 2006; Dr. Thomas H. Clements, served from 1982 through 1994, and passed away in 2005; and Dr. Bernadine Chuck Fong, served from 1994 through 2006, and retired June 30, 2006.
The Foothill-De Anza Community College District has served the heart of Silicon Valley-the communities of Cupertino, Los Altos, Los Altos Hills, Mountain View, Palo Alto, Sunnyvale and portions of San Jose, Santa Clara and Saratoga-for almost 50 years, providing workforce education and programs to prepare students for transfer to four-year institutions. Foothill and De Anza colleges together educate more than 44,000 students each quarter.
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