Maurice Gray Eldridge Honored for A Celebrated Career in Education

Driven by a lifelong desire to become an educator, Mr. Eldridge began his career soon after receiving a Bachelor of Arts from Swarthmore College in 1962. While gaining initial experience as a teacher, he taught a wide range of subjects, including English, creative writing and United States history at schools throughout Pennsylvania and Massachusetts. Beginning in 1967, Mr. Eldridge was recognized as an assistant headmaster with the Windsor Mountain School. He briefly served as an educational specialist with the Massachusetts Department of Education before transitioning into what he considers to be one of the most formative experiences of his professional career. During this time, Mr. Eldridge completed a Master of Education through the University of Massachusetts in 1976. For more than a decade, he was recognized as the principal and director of the Duke Ellington School of the Arts, where he took great pride in helping to establish the school and its character while he was there.

After joining Swarthmore College in 1989, Mr. Eldridge rose through the ranks as an assistant vice president before he was promoted to the position of executive assistant to the president and vice president for College and Community Relations in 1998. A respected voice in the creative realm, he has worked as an independent arts consultant since 1987 and while at Swarthmore College. Mr. Eldridge maintained leadership roles with the college until his official retirement in 2016. Noted for his financial acumen, he is a former member of the Board of Directors for the Greater Philadelphia Chapter of the National Society of Fundraising Executives. Mr. Eldridge maintains involvement with a wide range of industry organizations, including the Council for Advancement and Support of Education. Throughout the course of his career, he has contributed numerous articles to professional publications, in addition to being credited as the editor of "Network Bibliography: The Arts High School Library," which was published in 1991. In recognition of his numerous career achievements, Mr. Eldridge has been featured in a wide range of honors publications, including the 55th, 56th and 60th editions of Who's Who in America, as well as the 26th and 27th editions of Who's Who in the East. He was most recently selected to receive the Albert Nelson Marquis Lifetime Achievement Award in 2017.

Following a long and celebrated career as an academic administrator, Mr. Eldridge was recognized as a co-founder and president of the Board of Directors with The Chester Charter School for the Arts in 2005. As a result of his involvement in the school's establishment, Mr. Eldridge participated in a ribbon-cutting ceremony and had a wing of the new high school building named in his honor in 2017: the Maurice G. Eldridge HS Wing. A former member of the Board of Directors, Mr. Eldridge continues to share his knowledge and experience as a mentor for about a dozen high school students at the school. He also currently serves as the vice chair of the Board of Directors for The Chester Fund, which supports The Chester Charter School for the Arts by raising money from individuals, foundations and corporations to support the CCSA's annual program budget and capital projects. To date, the fund has raised more than $6 million through financing and private donations, allowing for the establishment of a new campus for the CCSA.

To learn more about The Chester Fund, please visit https://www.thechesterfund.org.

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SOURCE Marquis Who’s Who