Reprinted with permission from The Day 1-9-09

The Day joins the community in applauding the life of Ruth Cole-Chu. Death took her from us much too soon.

Ms. Cole-Chu, who was 58 when she died at her Salem home Wednesday, achieved so very much in her too-short years. She was a person who friends and colleagues recall brought joy to every challenge, met each disappointment with resolve and inspired others to keep pushing forward.

Connecticut has yet to obtain the racial and cultural diversity in its schools and the equity in its public educational opportunities that Ms. Cole-Chu spent much of her adult life working toward, but due to her efforts, hundreds of students did get a fair opportunity to excel. That legacy lives on.

In the mid-1990s, in response to a state mandate, local officials appointed Ms. Cole-Chu to chair the Regional Forum, a large working group with 55 members from 21 towns that developed recommendations on improving the quality and diversity of local schools. Its recommendations remain solid to this day - ease zoning requirements in suburban towns to provide more affordable housing, support magnet and charter schools, aggressively recruit minority teachers and focus on early-childhood education.


Later, she assisted a group of parents and interested community members in applying to the state of Connecticut for a charter for a new middle school which became ISAAC (Interdistrict School for Arts and Communication) School in New London in 1997 that embodies the principles she held dear. She continued her service to the school by becoming its first Development Coordinator and later Executive Director.

Ruth Cole-Chu would not focus on the finality of death, but on the munificence of a life well lived. And so should we all.

Ruth was a very strong advocate of community and her family joins her in their admiration of ISAAC's community.  The Cole-Chu family is grateful for all the support and prayers sent their way and ask that if any families want to express their condolences through a donation, then consider donating to the ISAAC - Ruth Cole-Chu Fund.