Sylvan

On August 23, 2007, JOSEPH (JOE) HAROLD LAPPEN. Beloved husband of Vicki M. Lappen; loving father of Jay and Evan Lappen; beloved son of Jeri Lappen and the late Sylvan Lappen. He is also survived by other relatives and friends. Family will receive friends on Monday August 27 from 10 A.M. to 12 P.M. at WITZKE FUNERAL HOMES, INC., 5555 Twin Knolls Road, Columbia, where services will begin following the visitation at 12 noon. Interment will be at Crownsville Veterans Cemetery. In lieu of flowers, contributions may be made in his memory to United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS)

Poor product sales, including that of its Hooked on Phonics brand, and more struggles at its Sylvan tutoring centers widened Educate Inc.'s loss during the last three months of 2006, executives reported yesterday, highlighting the challenges facing the Baltimore company as it works to go private in a management-led buyout. Educate reported an $11 million loss in the fourth quarter. It came a month after executives announced that it had agreed to be acquired by management, including Chief Executive Officer R. Christopher Hoehn-Saric and other investors.

Maryland : Development Cinetic Landis plant set for Hagerstown Cinetic Landis Grinding Corp., a maker of precision grinding systems for vehicles, will build a $10.8 million plant near Hagerstown, company officials said yesterday. The plant in the Newgate Industrial Park along Interstate 81 will employ about 150 people and is scheduled to open in July 2008, the company said. Associated Press Investing Martek moving to S&P SmallCap 600 Standard & Poor's has decided to move Martek Biosciences Corp.

Sylvan Ribakow, a certified public accountant and former partner in a Baltimore accounting firm, died Wednesday of heart failure at Sinai Hospital. The former Pikesville resident was 90. Mr. Ribakow was born in Baltimore and raised near Easterwood Park in Northwest Baltimore. He was a 1935 graduate of City College and earned a degree in accounting from the Baltimore College of Commerce, now the University of Baltimore. During World War II, Mr. Ribakow, who was classified 4-F by the Selective Service System because of a bad back, was an accountant at Austin Baking Co. in Baltimore.

In response to criticism that it is too diversified, Sylvan Learning Systems Inc. said yesterday it will simplify its business as its stock price continued to slide.Shares in the Baltimore-based education company have lost 56 percent of their value since February. Sylvan's shares closed yesterday at $15.1875, down $1.3125.Sylvan also reported a $9.2 million net loss in its third-quarter earnings, which it attributed to the impact of disposing of PACE, its corporate consultant, training and professional development firm that suffered declining revenue after Sylvan acquired it in 1995.

Continuing its foray into the overseas market, Sylvan Learning Systems Inc. said yesterday that it has won a $4.5 million contract to provide computerized drivers' tests in Northern Ireland.The Baltimore-based education company announced a similar agreement with the United Kingdom in November to deliver drivers' exams throughout England, Scotland and Wales.Under the five-year contract with Northern Ireland's Driver and Vehicle Testing Agency, Sylvan will operate six testing centers that will administer a computer-based version of the drivers' license theory tests.

Sylvan Learning Systems Inc., the Baltimore-based provider of educational services, announced yesterday that it will spin off its computerized testing service company in order to focus on its tutoring business.Sylvan said it will sell up to 20 percent of Prometric Inc., which offers more than 2,400 kinds of tests to more than 170 clients, by early 2000. The remaining stake of Prometric will be distributed to Sylvan shareholders by next fall if the Internal Revenue Service rules that such a distribution is tax-free and no adverse business or market conditions exist for Sylvan or its stockholders.

Sylvan Learning Systems Inc. said yesterday that it signed a definitive purchase agreement to acquire 54 percent of the Universidad Europea de Madrid, a for-profit university in Spain, for $51 million.The Baltimore-based educational services company also said it completed a management agreement allowing it to assume operating control of the university, effective earlier this week.The acquisition, which was announced in January, should close in the second or third quarter of this year, Douglas L. Becker, the company's president and chief executive, said in a conference call yesterday with analysts and reporters.

In a bid to get into the classroom, Sylvan Learning Systems Inc. of Baltimore said yesterday that it will use school computer labs being built by a California-based start-up company to launch Internet teaching and testing programs.Sylvan also said it has made an unspecified investment in the company, San Roman, Calif.-based ZapMe! Corp. The privately held company has built computer labs in 90 schools in about a dozen states since October. It plans to have labs in 2,000 schools by the end of the year.

Baltimore's major volunteer organization announced a drive yesterday to collect 25,000 new and 25,000 "gently used" books to fill the barren shelves of city school libraries.The drive will end with a "serv-a-thon" April 17, when volunteers will spend the day helping to sort and catalog the books, said Jennifer Wittman, executive director of Hands On Baltimore, the city's "volunteer central."Twenty-seven of the city's neediest school libraries, serving about 15,000 pupils, will receive the new books, Wittman said.

Sean Smeeton was ready to throw in the towel. For nearly 16 years, he had run the nonprofit Sylvan Beach Foundation, trying to get troubled young men on the right track, most recently through teaching them business skills by running ice cream shops. But after a gang beating at one of the shops and with funding for nonprofits drying up, Smeeton started to become discouraged and wondered if he was really making a difference. Then came a call earlier this year from Carroll Skipwith, a kid Smeeton had mentored when Skipwith was 12 years old but who ended up in jail for dealing drugs.

Sylvan A. Dogoloff, a retired Baltimore public school teacher and administrator, died Tuesday of congestive heart failure at his Upper Park Heights home. He was 90. Mr. Dogoloff was born in Kiev, Russia, immigrated to Baltimore with his family in 1921 and settled in the old Jewish neighborhood near the historic Lloyd Street Synagogue in East Baltimore. Growing up, he worked in Dogoloff's Grocery, his parents' Reisterstown Road store. He was a 1936 graduate of City College and earned a bachelor's degree from the Johns Hopkins University in 1940.

Today's question comes from a friend whose second-grader has been saying "I hate school." Over and over. What, if anything, should his parents do? I sent the question to Richard E. Bavaria, senior vice president for education outreach for Baltimore-based Sylvan Learning. Before joining Sylvan, he was executive director of the department of curriculum and instruction for Baltimore County Public Schools. He has a blog, DrRickblog.com, with tips for parents and educators. Bavaria said not to panic - many kids go through a stage like this, especially right after the fun of summer.

On August 27, 2008 Dorothy Lorraine. (Patrick) and Samantha Garnes all of Owings Mills, MD, and Curtis Garnes (Lia) of Liverpool, NY. She is also survived by six loving grandchildren. Her father Homer Smith of Myrtle Beach, SC. Sisters, Sandra Madison (David) and Andrea Smith all of Schenectady, NY, and Rachael Smith of Berkley, CA. Brothers, Ricardo Smith of Los Angeles, CA and Michael Smith of Sylvan Beach, NY. Several nieces, nephews and a host of other relatives and friends. Friends may visit at the FAMILY OWNED MARCH FUNERAL HOME WEST, INC., 4300 Wabash Avenue, on Wednesday after 8:30 A.M., where the family will receive friends from 5 P.M. until 7 P.M. The family will receive friends on Thursday at the St. Cecilia's Roman Catholic Church, 3300 Clifton Avenue at 9:30 a.m a.m

Covenant Guild, Inc., regrets the passing of SYLVAN DORENFELD, husband of our Board Member, Edith Dorenfeld and extends sympathy to the family.

Sylvan Isaac, a certified public accountant who headed his own firm for more than 50 years, died of a stroke Monday at Sinai Hospital. The Northwest Baltimore resident was 86. Mr. Isaac was born in Baltimore and raised on Queensberry Avenue in the city's Pimlico neighborhood. He was a 1938 graduate of City College and earned a bachelor's degree in economics from the Johns Hopkins University in 1942. He enlisted in the Coast Guard in 1942 and served as a warrant officer in Savannah, Ga. He was honorably discharged in 1946.

On Sept. 12, 2007 SYLVAN RIBAKOW. The family is in mourning at home and welcomes friends Sunday, September 16 noon at North Oaks, 725 Mt. Wilson Lane.

Sylvan Ribakow, a certified public accountant and former partner in a Baltimore accounting firm, died Wednesday of heart failure at Sinai Hospital. The former Pikesville resident was 90. Mr. Ribakow was born in Baltimore and raised near Easterwood Park in Northwest Baltimore. He was a 1935 graduate of City College and earned a degree in accounting from the Baltimore College of Commerce, now the University of Baltimore. During World War II, Mr. Ribakow, who was classified 4-F by the Selective Service System because of a bad back, was an accountant at Austin Baking Co. in Baltimore.

Sylvan Learning Inc. said yesterday that it is selling most of its corporate-owned tutoring centers that were beset with financial problems last year as the Baltimore-based company hopes to expand its franchise business by persuading others to open its classrooms nationwide. The company also announced that it is piloting a program that sends tutors to children's homes, a departure from its 27-year model of teaching students at its centers. And, it is expanding its live, online tutoring program.

On August 23, 2007, JOSEPH (JOE) HAROLD LAPPEN. Beloved husband of Vicki M. Lappen; loving father of Jay and Evan Lappen; beloved son of Jeri Lappen and the late Sylvan Lappen. He is also survived by other relatives and friends. Family will receive friends on Monday August 27 from 10 A.M. to 12 P.M. at WITZKE FUNERAL HOMES, INC., 5555 Twin Knolls Road, Columbia, where services will begin following the visitation at 12 noon. Interment will be at Crownsville Veterans Cemetery. In lieu of flowers, contributions may be made in his memory to United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS)