Paul Hersey

On Monday, August 7th, Paul, known by his friends as “Dr. Paul” Hersey, died peacefully in Sarasota, Florida just before his 88th birthday. In his final moments, he was surrounded by his loving children, Debbie Lobe, Diane Topping and David Hersey. He is survived by his wife of 65 years, Jane Holt Hersey, and his twin sisters Mary Sue Ammon and Catherine Michela.

Paul Hersey was recognized as a leading authority and developer of the NASSP assessment center that was used to identify school administrators, assistance principals, and principals at schools throughout the United States from the mid 1970’s to 1991. The association piloted the assessment center model in 1975 and trained assessors who could go back to their school systems and evaluate educators. By the early 1990’s there was an assessment center in every state and had tested over 4000 educators.

Paul was an accomplished athlete at McGuffey High School in Pennsylvania. Paul was an outstanding quarterback and baseball player and was known as an all-around athlete as he lettered in many sports. His biggest thrill was being invited by the Cincinnati Reds to the open tryouts prior to college. Paul was an outstanding scholar as he was the valedictorian for his high school class.

A staunch advocate of education, Paul Hersey received several degrees from Miami and Ohio State Universities and finished his doctorate work in Education Administration and Supervision while at OSU. Paul was a lifetime educator with undergraduate and graduate degrees in teaching and secondary school administration.

After teaching math and holding administrative positions in middle schools, high schools, and the central office in Columbus Ohio, he moved to Reston, Virginia with his young family and served as Director of Professional Assistance at NASSP into the mid 1990’s. In 1995, Paul became the leading educational consultant to Computer Sciences Corporation (CSC) and developed and initiated a safe schools and anti‐terrorism program for that company throughout the United States. In 2003‐04, Paul led a team to assist in initiating a safe schools/anti‐terrorism program in every Department of Defense (DODS) school on American Military Bases throughout the world. He was also responsible for directing a number of safe school full‐scale exercises and drills throughout the U.S..

After Paul and his wife, Jane, moved to sunny Sarasota in 2007 to enjoy the temperatures, golf courses and fishing, they also became season tickets holders for the spring training at the Reds and Orioles pre-season camps. Paul also was on the board at the Van Wezel Performing Arts Hall because of his love of education and the arts. Paul had many hobbies, but his favorite was bird watching and photography, and identifying species in each community in which he lived.

Paul put his management skills to good use in his local community and formed a Community Emergency Response Team. As incident commander (CERT) for several years, Paul led a team for the Isles on Palmer Ranch, a 600-plus home community in south Sarasota.

Most importantly, Paul Hersey will be remembered as a man with an incredibly generous spirit and loved his Sarasota community and his neighbors in the Isles. A very benevolent man with his resources, he was always interested in helping young people pursue or continue their education.

He adored his wife Jane, and his three children, Debbie Lobe and her husband Bob of Camden, Delaware, Diane Topping and her husband Larry of Newport News, Virginia, and David Hersey and his wife Keely of Leesburg, Virginia. He was so proud of his seven brilliant grandchildren: Heather Johnson and husband Ryan, Lindsey Lobe and husband Charlie Cox, Trevor Topping and wife Jessie, Bobby Lobe and wife Bridget, Trent Topping and wife Erin, Connor Hersey, and Peyton Hersey and fiancé Ryan Ahern as well as his two great grandsons, Emmett Divers and Noah Johnson.

In lieu of flowers or other, please just remember Paul with a good deed paid forward to someone in your neighborhood or community. Paul would love you to look for promising young students who need help pursuing their higher education goals.

Fond memories and expressions of sympathy may be shared at www.palmsrobartsfuneralhome.com for the Hersey family.