Dr. Morton Botel, 90, educator

Dr. Morton Botel, 90, of Philadelphia, an educator in the field of literacy who profoundly changed how reading and writing are taught to children in America, died Monday, July 6, of pneumonia and other causes at St. Vincent's Hospital in Dublin, Ireland.

At the time of his death, he was visiting relatives in Ireland, a country he had grown to love, according to a death notice in the Irish Times.

Dr. Botel was affiliated for many years with the University of Pennsylvania, first as an undergraduate student in 1942, then as a master's and doctoral student, and later as professor and professor emeritus of education at Penn's Graduate School of Education. He retired in 2003.

Dr. Botel is credited with taking the process of learning to read and write - which largely was based on rote memorization when he was a student at Samuel Tilden Junior High School in Southwest Philadelphia in the 1930s - and reshaping it.

He already knew by the eighth grade that he wanted to teach, he told the Pennsylvania Gazette, the university's alumni bulletin.

During one particularly dull class, Dr. Botel, then 13, realized he could put a lesson across better than his teacher, and thus was born a trajectory that placed Dr. Botel at the forefront of what is now known as the literacy movement; he helped spawn a generation of teachers with dynamic and flexible classroom techniques for learning, the Gazette wrote.

Born in Philadelphia, Dr. Botel was the firstborn of Ceilia Cherry and Harry Botel. After graduating from John Bartram High School, he won a scholarship to Penn, but World War II intervened, and he joined the Navy ROTC program on campus.

Then came deployment to Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, and Kobe, Japan, after the war. During one weekend in March 1945, he received his undergraduate degree and Navy commission and was married to Rita Rubin.

Dr. Botel initially wanted to teach high school history. To prepare, he was a substitute teacher in Philadelphia's high schools. But he learned on his first job that the pupils in his history classes couldn't read.

"In those days," he told the Gazette, "reading was viewed as a subject to be taught. I started to understand that reading is not an end in itself but a process. Every teacher is both a teacher of content and a teacher of reading."

He then redirected his energies to "reach as many children as possible by teaching their teachers," the Gazette wrote.

In 1951, Dr. Botel became the first reading/English supervisor for the Bucks County schools. In 1956, he rose to assistant superintendent for curriculum research. In 1966, he was invited to return to Penn's graduate school of education, where he remained.

Dr. Botel had two signature achievements. The first was the 1978 Pennsylvania Reading/Communication Arts Plan that used interrelated experiences in the classroom and in life to teach reading, writing, and speaking. Supported by the federal government, the document, with an update in 1988, has formed the basis for literacy teaching for the last 37 years.

His second achievement was the Penn Literacy Network, a vehicle for teaching educators and parents about literacy, which Dr. Botel founded in 1981. In the last 34 years, more than 34,000 educators have taken courses. After his retirement in 2003, he continued to act as senior adviser. His daughter, Dr. Bonnie Botel-Sheppard, is the director.

Dr. Botel authored or contributed to 200 publications and received many honors, including the Lindback Award for distinguished teaching from Penn in 1975.

Outside the classroom, Dr. Botel enjoyed international travel and spending time with friends and family. He loved painting in oils and watercolors.

He is survived by his wife, Penny Baizer Botel; her children, Mark Feldman and Abby Wynne; and Neil Botel, Mikel Botel and Bonnie Botel-Sheppard, the children of Rita Rubin Botel, who died in 1994. Eleven grandchildren, three great-grandchildren, two brothers, and a sister also survive.

Funeral services were Friday, July 10. Interment was in King David Memorial Park, Bensalem.

Contributions may be made to Doctors Without Borders, 333 7th Ave., 2d Floor, New York, N.Y. 10001; or American Friends of Magen David Adom, 352 7th Ave., Suite 400, New York, N.Y. 10001.

610-313-8102