Claire Ellen Weinstein

Beloved Claire Ellen Weinstein passed away Thursday, June 23, 2016 while at home with her daughter Leona. Claire Ellen worked through ongoing health problems but always with a positive attitude and a zest for living. Her family and loved ones are deeply saddened and surprised by her passing and feel fortunate to have shared so much of her life.

Claire Ellen, Full Professor Emeritus at the University of Texas at Austin, was an active member of various Austin and Longhorn communities as well as numerous international, national, and local professional organizations in the fields of education and psychology. She was also a strong advocate of civil rights and women's issues, especially in Texas. She had a love for learning Judaism and sharing Jewish holidays with others. Claire Ellen had the biggest heart and the sharpest mind, and she devoted her life to helping others.

Claire Ellen was born on November 8, 1946, to Sidney and Fannie Weinstein of Brooklyn, New York. She had exceptional loving parents who had almost no education. Her parents knew the importance of education and made sure she knew it as well. Claire Ellen excelled in her educational studies, skipping several grades. After earning a B.S. in Biology from Brooklyn College and working for IBM on the computers of the future, she shifted her focus to improving education and earned her Ph.D. in Educational Psychology from UT-Austin.

Claire Ellen's contributions to research and practice in educational psychology stretch across the world from the ivory tower to the inner-city community college classroom, and her legacy lives on in her many students and her students' students. Claire Ellen is famous for her groundbreaking research on learning strategies, her 3-credit course (EDP310) designed to teach college students how to learn, as developer of the Model of Strategic Learning, and as author of the Learning and Study Strategies Inventory. Claire Ellen was a pioneer in educational access; she knew that every student could learn, and she dedicated her life to making sure that every student had the tools they needed to learn. She always recognized the special impact that mentors had on the lives of students. Claire Ellen had wonderful mentors and she prioritized her role as an outstanding mentor and Jewish Mother to her many students, friends, and family members. In her heart of hearts, she devoted herself to mothering, mentoring, and enjoying the company of her dear peanut, math princess, and beautiful daughter and niece, Leona.

Claire Ellen was preceded in death by her parents and her brothers Alvin and Warren Weinstein. She is survived by her daughter Leona Weinstein.

Funeral services will be held at Weed-Corley-Fish Funeral Homes, 3125 N Lamar Blvd, on Sunday, June 26 at 11:30 a.m. Interment will follow at Austin Memorial Park.

Claire Ellen's family requests that, in lieu of flowers, contributions be made to Jewish Family Services of Austin or Congregation Agudas Achim.