Howard Craig Mitzel

Monterey, CA -- Howard C. Mitzel, Ph.D., principal founder of Pacific Metrics Corporation, Monterey, CA, passed away on January 19, 2014. He was born in 1951, the son of Harold E. Mitzel and Lois Howard Stuart.

Dr. Mitzel received his doctor of philosophy in psychometrics and cognitive psychology from the University of Chicago. Prior to forming Pacific Metrics, he worked as a Senior Research Scientist at (formerly) CTB McGraw-Hill. There, he co-developed Bookmark, the most widely used standard setting method in K-12 education in the United States.

Dr. Mitzel co-founded Pacific Metrics in 2000 to advance the transition of technology for educational assessment into the American classroom. He led the development of an automated scoring system for essays and short answer test questions, which was a prize-winner in a 2011 education technology competition. In 2013, Dr. Mitzel was granted a patent for a computerized plagiarism detection system Dr. Mitzel is survived by his mother, Lois Stuart; his sister and brother-in-law, Claudia and Rich Kerbel; niece, Allison Kerbel; and nephew, Nathan Kerbel.

Memorial services will be held at a later time; contact the family for information. Memorial contributions in his name may be made to: National Public Radio (www.npr.org) and ASPCA (www.aspca.org).

Arrangements under the direction of The Paul Mortuary, Pacific Grove, CA.