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Jesse N. McDade-Bey, who taught philosophy at Morgan State University for nearly 30 years and had been a frequent guest on WJZ-TV's "Square Off" talk show, died of vascular dementia July 27 at the Joseph Richey House hospice. He was 72 and had lived in Hamilton. Dr. McDade-Bey, the son of a Methodist minister and a homemaker, was born and raised in Knoxville, Tenn. After graduating from Austin High School in 1956, he earned a bachelor's degree in 1960 from Clark University in Worcester, Mass.

There were giants in those days. And some of them were only five feet tall. With her wide serge sleeves rolled brazenly beyond her elbows and a shiny baton in each hand, she stood at the edge of the St. Bernardine's School stage in West Baltimore in the spring of 1950, and - indifferent to our rehearsal fatigue - narrowed her eyes under the starched white headband and challenged us for the umpteenth time: "Again!" Once more we twirled our batons in sync three times, then threw them in the air and … up, up … down, down … thump, thump, thump, thump.

Hershel H. Newlin, a public high school teacher in Baltimore and former naval officer, died Tuesday of congestive heart failure at his home in Jacksonville, northern Baltimore County. He was 93. For about eight years in the 1930s, Mr. Newlin taught mechanical drawing and shop at Polytechnic Institute and Southern High School. "He was proud of having taught at Poly, and he was also proud of having been an officer in the Navy," said his son, Michael J. Newlin Jr. of Timonium. Born in Marshall, Ind., Mr. Newlin worked as a teen with his father building and remodeling houses, barns and churches.

Donald M. Cohen, a retired credit manager and magician who was known as "Magic Don," died May 1 from a heart attack at his Edgewood home. He was 87. The son of a bar owner and a homemaker, Donald Martin Cohen was born in Baltimore and raised in the city's Pimlico neighborhood. He was a graduate of city public schools. After serving in the Army during World War II, Mr. Cohen returned to Baltimore. He worked as a credit and collections manager for Farber's Inc., a North Eutaw Street furniture store, for 20 years until retiring in 1992.

Mildred L. Buckley Hipsley, who taught in the Baltimore city and county school systems, died Saturday of congestive heart failure at Dulaney-Towson Health Care Center. The longtime resident of East Joppa Road was 95.She retired in 1963 from the city school system where she had taught kindergarten and elementary classes since 1945.She began her career in the early 1920s, teaching in a two-room schoolhouse on Falls Road near Bare Hills, where her sister, Gertrude Buckley, was the school's other teacher and its principal.

Roger M. Shaw, a retired teacher of dyslexic children and wounded combat veteran of World War II, died of complications from congestive heart failure and diabetes Wednesday at his North Baltimore home. He was 79. Born and raised in Glenolden, Pa., as a young man he enlisted in the Marine Corps. He was hit in the back by shrapnel at Iwo Jima and awarded the Purple Heart. He later said, "I needed to go to war to learn about peace." While recuperating from back surgery for his wound in California, he decided to dedicate his life to teaching.

Benjamin F. Emenheiser, who taught history at City College for 44 years, died Wednesday at Union Memorial Hospital from complications of diabetes. He was 93.Mr. Emenheiser was a native of Annville, Pa., and a 1921 graduate of Lebanon Valley College. He taught for a year in Freeland, Pa., before moving to Baltimore and joining the faculty of City College, where he taught until retirement in 1966.He led the history department at City College and, for 4 1/2 years, at the old Baltimore Junior College, originally housed in the same building at 33rd Street and The Alameda.

Grace L. Venture, who had taught art in Baltimore County public schools and later taught emotionally disturbed children, died of heart failure Thursday at Sinai Hospital. She was 86. She was born and raised Grace Lucille Dennis in Pittsburgh, and earned a bachelor's degree in 1941 from what is now Morgan State University. She later earned a master's degree in art from New York University and a doctorate in art therapy and program administration from Union Graduate School, a division of Antioch College in Yellow Springs, Ohio.

Charlie Pierce of Hutchinson High School in Kansas has taught evolution in his biology class for close to 20 years. But starting this school year, Pierce was no longer required to include evolution -- a fact that distresses him and other Kansas science teachers. "We're going back to the 1880s," Pierce said. Last summer, the Kansas Board of Education voted to remove from the state's curriculum all references to evolution, the belief that life formed over billions of years, with humans and apes sharing a common ancestor.

Margaret Perin, who taught generations of Baltimoreans to overcome a fear of swimming and was an advocate of downtown living, died of congestive heart failure July 22 at her Mount Vernon home. She was 95. Margaret Vogel was born in Baltimore. She learned to swim when she was 6 years old and by 13 she had become South Atlantic backstroke champion, a title she held for three years. She was a 1931 Friends School graduate and captain of the varsity swim team. She studied piano and voice at the Peabody Institute.

Marcella E. Grice, an artist and calligrapher, died April 13 from complications of heart disease at Sinai Hospital. She was 87. The daughter of an insurance executive and a homemaker, the former Marcella Editha Harman was born in Baltimore and raised in Charles Village. Mrs. Grice, who was known as Editha, graduated in 1942 from Seton High School. She earned a bachelor's degree in 1946 from what is now Notre Dame of Maryland University. In the 1980s, she earned a master's degree in audio-visual communication from Towson University.

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. - Before Jason Hammel could become an Opening Day starter, he had to revisit his simpler days of pitching. Before the crowds, before the expectations, before worrying about his career and where he fit in, he needed to go back to the time when the game was free of distractions, when baseball wasn't much more complicated that throwing a ball through a tire in his backyard as a kid. The 30-year-old right-hander will start the...

Isidor Saslav, a former Baltimore Symphony Orchestra concertmaster and Peabody Institute violin teacher, died of complications from cancer Jan. 26 at a hospital in Tyler, Texas. The former Mount Washington resident was 74. Born in Jerusalem, he moved with his family to Detroit as a young boy and studied violin under Detroit Symphony concertmaster Mischa Mischakoff. Family members said at 17 he became one of the youngest members of the Detroit Symphony. He earned a bachelor's degree in music at Wayne State University and a doctorate from Indiana University, where he wrote his thesis on the string quartets of Franz Josef Haydn.

Andree W. Williams, a former Roland Park Country School educator and a gardener, died Jan. 30 of heart failure at the Blakehurst retirement community in Towson. She was 89. Andree Louise Wood was born and raised in Fort Thomas, Ky., where she graduated from high school. She attended Wittenberg University in Springfield, Ohio. In 1944, she married Samuel C. Williams Sr., an educator, who moved in 1957 to St. Paul's School. The couple lived on the school's Brooklandville campus until moving to Ruxton in the mid-1960s.

It doesn't take a football fan to feel good about the Baltimore Ravens winning the Super Bowl . As thousands gather Tuesday morning for a victory parade through the streets of Charm City, let us take stock of just what an extraordinary moment this is. A team that oddsmakers saw as a prohibitive fourth-seed underdog in the National Football League playoffs had to overcome away games against star-studded franchises like New England and Denver and...

The Rev. Eric W. Gritsch, a prominent Lutheran theologian, educator and author whose teaching career at the Lutheran Theological Seminary in Gettysburg, Pa., spanned more than three decades, died Dec. 29 at Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center of complications from an infection. The longtime Canton resident was 81. Michael Cooper-White, president of the Lutheran Theological Seminary called Dr. Gritsch, "one of the giants in 20th-century Lutheranism. " "I am among hundreds of women and men privileged to have sat at his feet during his third of a century as a professor here at Gettysburg Seminary," he said.

Gail Siemer seems too nice to be throwing elbows around on the basketball court and snapping a little angrily at her Chesapeake-AA coach for some picks to help set her free from the double- and triple-teams she faces every game."

AMONG YOGI Berra's famous malapropisms, "This is like deja vu all over again" has become a cliche. No doubt that's why it kept coming to mind Wednesday, as 367 Maryland educators gathered at Turf Valley conference center in Ellicott City to launch a multiyear, $66 million campaign to help Maryland children learn to read. From state schools Superintendent Nancy S. Grasmick and several of the nation's eminent reading researchers, the educators heard a familiar litany: Four of every 10 Maryland third-graders lack proficiency in reading.

The Rev. James R. LeVeque, a retired Episcopal priest and mathematics instructor, died of kidney failure Saturday at Keswick Multi-Care Center. The Charles Village resident was 81. Born in Cassopolis, Mich., he attended the Howe Military School in Howe, Ind., and earned a bachelor's degree at the University of Chicago. He then earned divinity and theology degrees at Nashotah House Seminary in Nashotah, Wis. He was ordained a priest in 1956. He later earned master's degrees in mathematics from the Johns Hopkins University and Morgan State University.

Call 2012 the year that TV got social -- real social. And if you want the moment of moments, it came in the first debate between President Barack Obama and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, when someone created the #SaveBigBird hashtag on Twitter after the GOP challenger said he wanted to cut funding for “Sesame Street.” Talk about losing the battle but winning the war. Even though the president got hammered during that debate in...