Rod Paige, a Mississippi native who served as U.S. secretary of education under President George W. Bush, has passed away at the age of 92.
Paige died Tuesday morning at his home with his wife, Stephanie, at his side, per a statement from his family.
Paige was born in Monticello in 1933 and was the son of a pair of public-school educators. He took that inherited belief in the public education system and became a teacher and coach after attaining his undergraduate degree from Jackson State University and serving in the Navy.
His first jobs in education came at Hinds Agricultural High School and Utica Junior College – now Hinds Community College – where he taught health and physical education and coached from 1957-63. He was then hired as the head football coach at his alma mater, coaching the Tigers from 1964-68.
Success at Jackson State helped lead Paige to being hired as the head football coach at Texas Southern University. There, he coached on the gridiron from 1971-75, was athletic director from 1971-80, taught from 1980-84, and served as education dean from 1984-94. In 1994, he was hired as superintendent of the Houston Independent School District and is touted as the mind behind the “Houston Miracle,” a period of drastic improvement marked by higher test scores and lower dropout rates.
In 2001, Paige became President Bush’s education secretary, becoming the first Black man to hold the title and later playing a crucial role in implementing the No Child Left Behind Act, which became the national standard for public education. Paige was also at Bush’s side when the news broke of the second World Trade Center building being struck by a plane on Sept. 11, 2001.
“Rod was a leader and a friend. Unsatisfied with the status quo, he challenged what we called ‘the soft bigotry of low expectations.’ Rod worked hard to make sure that where a child was born didn’t determine whether they could succeed in school and beyond,” Bush stated after receiving the news of Paige’s passing. “He devoted his life to America’s young people and made a difference. His wife Stephanie was a strong partner in that mission, and Laura and I send her and the Paige family our heartfelt sympathies.”
Paige became the interim president at Jackson State in November 2016 and held the position until June 2017 when Dr. William Bynum took over.
“Dr. Paige’s leadership, integrity, and belief in the power of learning left a lasting mark on every institution he touched, from the Houston Independent School District to the Department of Education, to his return home as interim president of Jackson State University,” Jackson Mayor John Horhn stated. “The City of Jackson extends heartfelt condolences to his devoted wife, Stephanie, and to the Paige family. We are grateful for Dr. Paige’s legacy and for the example he set as a son of Mississippi.”