William Cunningham, Newman Leader, Dies
Times Picayune 09-3-1996

*************************************************
Copyright. All rights reserved.
http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm
http://www.usgwarchives.net/la/lafiles.htm
************************************************  

William Palmer Cunningham, former headmaster of Isidore Newman School, died
Aug. 23 in Houston. He was 73.

He led the Uptown school from 1964 to 1976.

During his tenure, the school greatly expanded its facilities, adding a
science center in 1968, the Bertha Marcus Levy Student Center in 1974 and
other buildings.

Mr. Cunningham was born and grew up in Yonkers, N.Y. After service in the Army
Air Corps during World War II, he graduated with distinction in history in
1947 from Wesleyan University in Middletown, Conn., where he was president of
Alpha Chi Rho fraternity and the Glee Club.

He received a master's degree in secondary school administration from
Northwestern University in Chicago in 1953.

Before coming to New Orleans, he was chairman of the history department and
head basketball and baseball coach at the Chicago Latin School, 1947-54;
chairman of the history department and assistant principal of the Kinkaid
School in Houston, 1954-61; and headmaster of the Menlo School in Menlo Park,
Calif., 1961-64.

After leaving Newman, he returned to Texas as a consultant at the Fort Worth
Country Day School in Fort Worth, 1976-77; assistant principal at the Kinkaid
School, 1977-79; and headmaster at the Awty School in Houston, 1979-80.

Mr. Cunningham was a past president of the Independent Schools Association of
the Southwest; a life member of the Country Day Headmasters Association; a
former consultant to the Advanced Placement Program of the College Entrance
Examination Board; and a member of the Gilbert and Sullivan Society of
Houston, the Heather and Thistle Society, the Clan Cunningham Society of
America and the Scottish-Irish Society of the United States.

He was a former baritone soloist at St. James Cathedral in Chicago, Christ
Church Cathedral, Trinity Episcopal Church and St. Mark's Episcopal Church in
Houston. He was a member of St. Martin's Episcopal Church and a cantor at
Temple Emanuel in Houston.

Survivors include two sons, Bruce Thayer Cunningham of Chicago and Scott
Douglas Cunningham of Houston, and a grandchild.

Plans for a memorial service will be announced later. George H. Lewis & Sons
Funeral Home in Houston is in charge of arrangements.