Joseph Feldman, 78, Philadelphia schoolteacher

When Joseph Feldman retired as a city schoolteacher on Jan. 31, 2003, a newspaper article noted the event.

The day was extraordinary, the reporter wrote in The Inquirer, "because it marked exactly 50 years since he started" with the Philadelphia School District.

On Friday, Mr. Feldman, 78, died of respiratory failure at Albert Einstein Medical Center. He lived in Cheltenham Township.

A North Philadelphia native, Mr. Feldman graduated from Northeast High School in 1948 and from Temple University with a history degree.

He began teaching at Stetson Junior High School in 1953, according to the 2003 article, and then spent 40 years teaching social studies at George Washington High School.

In his high school yearbook, he told the reporter, he wrote that he wanted to be a teacher. "It was innate," he said. "I like children. I like imparting knowledge."

Alan Datz, Mr. Feldman's supervisor, told the reporter that students "enjoyed being in his room. Students just don't want to learn. They want to enjoy being with you for that hour, that period."

And, Datz said, Mr. Feldman was that sort of teacher.

Mr. Feldman is survived by his wife, Beverly; son Ronald; daughters Rina Popoviz and Sharon Blumberg; and six grandchildren.

The graveside funeral was Monday at Montefiore Cemetery, Jenkintown.