John M. Walsh Jr., 83, educator

John M. Walsh Jr., 83, a retired public school administrator in Delaware County, died of bladder cancer Nov. 15 at Delaware County Memorial Hospital. He resided at Little Flower Manor in Darby.

Born in Philadelphia, Mr. Walsh was a 1944 graduate of St. Thomas More High School, and earned his bachelor's degree in accounting from La Salle University in 1948, his master's in education from Temple University in 1959, and a certificate in elementary school administration from Villanova University in 1975.

Mr. Walsh began his teaching career at Roman Catholic High School in 1952, where he also coached track.

In 1956, he became a social-studies teacher at Clifton Heights Junior-Senior High School and helped coach basketball, his son Paul said.

After also teaching geography and bookkeeping there, he became an assistant principal at Clifton Heights in 1969.

When that school closed in 1977, his son said, Mr. Walsh became an assistant principal at Beverly Hills Junior High in the Upper Darby School District, and, in 1980-81, was its temporary principal.

In 1981, Mr. Walsh took on his last such responsibility, as principal of Westbrook Park Elementary School, also in the Upper Darby district.

After completing 30 years in Delaware County schools, Mr. Walsh retired in 1986.

For the next 13 years, his son said, he worked for Grimley & Curry, a former general contractor in Havertown, for which he was a liaison with suppliers and subcontractors.

He was a member of the Knights of Columbus, the Pennsylvania State Education Association, and the alumni associations of St. Thomas More and La Salle.

His son said there were no other survivors. Mr. Walsh's wife, the former Mary Quigley, died in 2002.

A Funeral Mass was celebrated Nov. 18 at St. Francis of Assisi Church in Springfield, Delaware County, followed by burial in Holy Cross Cemetery, Yeadon.