Mass. Education Commissioner Mitchell Chester has died

BOSTON — Longtime Massachusetts Education Commissioner Mitchell Chester died Monday night after several months of cancer treatment, according to state officials.

The Board of Elementary and Secondary Education held a moment of silence after Chairman Paul Sagan publicly announced Chester’s death at the start of the Tuesday morning board meeting.

In his June 16 weekly update, Chester wrote that he temporarily cut back on his schedule this spring to undergo medical treatment.

“I appreciate all the well-wishes people have sent me, and I look forward to seeing you in the fall,” Chester wrote.

Sagan, who said Chester’s death was unexpected, told Boston 25 the state was fortunate to have his leadership for nearly a decade, recalling how he kept his cool during contentious hearings.

“I would ask him later, ‘Don’t you get angry? Don’t you just want to yell back?,’” said Sagan. “And he said, ‘Sure, but what’s the point? It doesn’t help kids and I’m here to focus on what the kids need.’”

Chester held the title of the longest serving education chief among his peers in other states, according to the Council of Chief State School Officers.

Chester has served as commissioner over Massachusetts schools since May 2008. He was unanimously selected by the board that January.

“We lost a great leader today in Mitchell Chester,” said Education Secretary Jim Peyser. “He was a very thoughtful and collaborative leader and in many respects he exercised great courage on many controversial matters.”

Chester oversaw reform of the MCAS exams and the takeover the troubled school districts in Lawrence and Holyoke by state receivership.

Chester previously worked for the Ohio Department of Education and Philadelphia’s school district, but began his career as a teacher in Connecticut before working his way up to the state' curriculum chief.

Chester earned his doctorate in Administration, Planning, and Social Policy from Harvard University.

The board appointed Deputy Commissioner Jeff Wulfson as acting commissioner Tuesday morning.

Cox Media Group