Amherst, Howard A Peelle died of cancer December 15th at home, in Hospice care, surrounded by his four children and his wife.  He was born February 9, 1944 in Schenectady, NY to Gertrude E and Robert B Peelle, Sr.  Howard (Hap) grew up in Roslyn, Long Island, attended Friends Academy, Roslyn public schools and Stony Brook School (1961).  He was the eldest of 3 boys and 3 girls.  He received his BS in Engineering from Swarthmore College in Pennsylvania (1965).  Hap met his wife of 50 years, Carolyn, when they were new teachers (Math/English) at Oakwood School, a Quaker boarding school in Poughkeepsie, NY.  Hap’s football team, loyal to this day, matched him up with the new English teacher, ‘Miss Curtiss.’  After they married, the newlyweds lived a year in Chicago, during one of the most tumultuous years of the nation’s history—1968.

Hap was recruited to a special doctoral program in education at UMass, Amherst under charismatic Dean Dwight Allen. The School grew exponentially, and Carolyn joined the doctoral program as well.  In 1971-72 they graduated, had their first child, and built their first house together in Shutesbury.

As Professor in the College of Education department of Teacher Education and Curriculum Studies, Dr. Peelle pioneered in mathematics education and computer science education, designed and led new doctoral programs in Instructional Applications of Computers in the 70s and Math & Science Education in the 80s.  He was also Visiting Professor at MIT, Tokyo Institute of Technology, University of Hawai’i, University of California at Santa Cruz, and Hampshire College.  He published 4 books and 100+ articles while teaching courses such as Understanding Math Anxiety, Teaching Mathematical Problem Solving, Exploring Math & Science Teaching, and Teaching Mathematics with Computing.  In 1994 he received a national award for Innovative Excellence in Teaching, Learning, and Technology.

His international honors included: Fulbright Scholar Award for Lecturing and Research in Malaysia (2003), Fulbright Senior Specialist for Curriculum Assessment at Japan Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (2008), Delegate to the World Science Forum in Budapest, Hungary (2011) and in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil (2013).  Throughout his tenure at UMass, Dr. Peelle served as Faculty Senator and on councils: Commonwealth Honors College, Status of Women, and International Studies.

Exercise and playing racquet sports were an essential part of Hap’s life. In tennis he competed and often won New England senior tournaments in Men’s and Mixed Doubles (with Carolyn).  They were a perfect match for a match.  When he took up racquetball he became Mass. State champion in his age brackets—40s and 50s—10 times and was ranked nationally as high as #3.  Hap once organized a marathon weekend of racquet sports competition in Ping-Pong, tennis, racquetball, and badminton.  He loved to play backgammon, bridge and Go, and wrote a book on How to Solve Rubik’s Cube.

Hap is survived by his wonderful family: brothers RB (Susie) and Paul (Diana); sisters Elaine (Brian), Sallie (Alan), and Nancy (Robb); sister in law, Cornelia McDade and brother in law, John Curtiss (Sue Ellen); many nieces and nephews; his four children, Juliet (Nelson), Jessi, Caleb, and Mariah (Daniel) plus seven adored grandchildren.  He requested cremation with no burial.

An appreciation of his life will be held at Amherst South Church, on Saturday January 6^th at 2 pm.  The family has requested that gifts in Hap’s memory be sent to Amherst South Church, or to the Massachusetts General Cancer Center at Cooley Dickinson Hospital.