[CX-L] Rhoda Radow

[Aaron Kall]

I'm sure many subscribers to the list-serve remember Rhoda Radow- she was my high school debate coach and the reason I originally got involved in policy debate.  She passed away this week.  Her obituary follows below.
 
Aaron
 
RHODA KIRSCHNER RADOW, 75

Highly regarded Nova High School teacher, debate coach

BY KENDRA MARR

kmarr at herald.com



Rhoda Kirschner Radow, one of the top debate coaches in the country and a highly celebrated Nova High School teacher, died Sunday. She was 75.

Radow, a Hollywood resident, suffered from Alzheimer's disease over the past 10 years, said her husband, Francis Flynn. She died of complications from the disease.

At her first debate competition, Radow and her 15 debate students were promptly rejected by competition officials who regarded tournaments as a private club. But Radow returned with her debate students every Saturday for a year until one coach said, ``Aw, let's let her in already.''

''She was very strong willed, very much in control,'' Flynn said.

It was the start of a debating legacy under Radow that propelled many of her students to successful careers as lawyers. At one point, a majority of the legal staff for the city of Hollywood consisted of former students -- and made her a much-sought-after debate coach. In her career, she coached more than 200 state champions.

When she started as an English teacher, she knew nothing about debate.

''None of us knew anything; the kids and I learned together,'' Radow told The Herald when she retired in 1996.

She became so popular, Flynn said, that there were 400 students on the debate class waiting list.

As a teacher, Radow pushed her students to challenge themselves.

She founded Nova's Great Books classes, a seminar that encouraged open discussion about college-level literature. The state later adopted the classes. Students read books such as Voltaire's Candide and Faulkner's As I Lay Dying.

In 1972, Radow pioneered the Nova European Campus Program. Each year, she traveled with a group of students to Europe for six weeks, teaching history and English at historical sites and museums. Students raved about the program so much that those entering high school planned to go years in advance, Flynn said.

She won numerous awards and honors during her 28 years teaching at Nova, including The Miami Herald Silver Knight in 1990, which she won for outstanding teaching, and the Broward County Teacher of the Year award in 1971.

In addition to her husband, she is survived by her sons, Scott K. Radow of Richmond, Va., and Brett K. Radow of Charleston, W. Va. She is also survived by her sister, Irma Kirschner Agid, and five grandchildren.

A service will take place at noon today at the Levitt-Weinstein Memorial Chapel, 3201 NW 72nd Ave., Hollywood.

		
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