Kenneth D. Whitehead

teach me to be generous;

teach me to serve You as You deserve;

to give and not to count the cost,

to fight and not to heed the wounds,

to toil and not to seek for rest,

to labor and not to ask for reward,

save that of knowing I am doing Your Will.

-Prayer of St. Ignatius Loyola

Kenneth D. Whitehead

December 14, 1930-April 16, 2015

Kenneth D. Whitehead served as U.S. Assistant Secretary of Education for Postsecondary Education following his appointment by President Ronald Reagan in 1988. A prolific Catholic author, a linguist, and a diplomat in his early career, Ken spoke French and Italian and translated books in three languages, including German. He was the author of dozens of articles and a number of books, including, especially, One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic: The Early Church Was the Catholic Church (Ignatius Press, 2000). He was also active in Catholic lay institutions, such as Catholics United for the Faith, where he served for eight years as executive vice president.

Ken was born in Rupert, Idaho and grew up in Burley, Idaho. He was drafted into the Army during the Korean War after two years of university. After the Army, he completed his education, graduating from the University of Utah and spending a year studying in Paris on a Fulbright Scholarship. He became a career diplomat working in Rome and the Middle East and served as the chief of the Arabic Service of the Voice of America. He served as Director of the Center for International Education Programs and as the Deputy Assistant Secretary for Higher Education Programs, which led to his appointment to U.S. Assistant Secretary of Education.

In his retirement, he worked as a writer, editor, and translator in Falls Church, Virginia. His writings spanned the spectrum of Church related issues, from history to the major moral problem areas besetting modern society, including abortion. He served on the board of a variety of institutions, including the Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights, the Fellowship of Catholic Scholars, and the Review of Metaphysics. He received numerous recognitions for his work, including an honorary doctorate in Christian Letters from the Franciscan University of Steubenville, Ohio in 2003.

One could easily know Ken without being aware of his many achievements. Seldom is such an accomplished person so friendly, unpresumptuous, and approachable.

A convert to Catholicism, Ken's faith permeated his life to the very end, in his last hours of suffering from a long illness. He was a devoted husband to Margaret, his wife of 56 years, and a devoted father to his four sons, Paul, Steven, Matthew and David. He married Margaret in St. Peter's Basilica in Rome in August 1958 on the first of his three Foreign Service tours. He is survived by his wife, four sons, and numerous relatives and in-laws who loved him dearly. He was an active member of the St. James Catholic parish.