Professor Donald H. Layton, 81, passed away October 22, 2016, after a long battle with a genetic lung disease. He was born on April 23, 1935 on a farm outside Russellville, OH, the third of five children of the late Harry O. and Frances (Harman) Layton.
Don graduated from Russellville-Jefferson High School in 1952, and received a B.A. in political science from Northwestern University in 1956 and a B.S. in education from Ohio State in 1959 where he pursued further graduate study in political science. After teaching in secondary schools in Columbus, OH, and suburban Chicago, Don earned a master’s degree at Harvard University where he was a teaching fellow and later earned a PHD in educational administration at the University of Chicago where he was a Laverne Noyes Fellow. In 1968, he was appointed to the faculty of the University of California, Los Angeles, where he taught for 5 ½ years. In 1973, he accepted a professorship in education at the State University of New York at Albany from which he retired in 1991. Over his academic career, Professor Layton was active in a number of professional organizations and an editor of several academic publications. In 1969, he was one of the organizing members of the Politics of Education Association and later served as president and historian of the group. The Association honored him with its first Distinguished Service Award in 1994 and the David L. Colton Award in 2007. Don traveled extensively throughout the world and was invited to serve short term academic positions in Australia, Canada, and England. In recent years he was a resident of the Avila Retirement Community in Albany.
He leaves to mourn his loss two brothers and two sisters; Robert (deceased November 16, 2016) and wife Carolyn of Portsmouth, NH; David H. and wife Brenda Layton of Russellville, OH; Mary Evelyn and husband Aristotle Roussos of Lebanon, OH; and Andrea Wilkerson and her husband Clarence of Lake Waynoka, OH, eleven nieces, nephews and 23 great nieces and nephews.
Interment will be at the convenience of the family in the Linwood Cemetery, Russellville, OH.
Please visit www.RemickGendron.com to view Donald’s memorial website and to sign his tribute wall.