Stephen D. Sugarman of UC Berkeley School of Law has died at age 79 after a four-year battle with kidney cancer.
Sugarman joined the faculty of UC Berkeley School of Law in 1972 where he taught classes on torts, sports law, and educational policy and law. In May 2021, Berkeley Law paid tribute to Sugarman’s career in this feature.
News of his death brought tributes from allies in the school choice movement, who saw him and fellow Berkeley law professor John E. (Jack) Coons as groundbreakers for choice and equal opportunity for low-income families.
“He dedicated an enormous amount of time and energy to empowering disadvantaged families with greater access to educational opportunity,” EdChoice policy director Jason Bedrick tweeted. “May his memory be a blessing.”
“Steve Sugarman, along with Jack Coons and Milton Friedman, are the founders of the modern education choice movement,” said Doug Tuthill, president of Step Up For Students, the nonprofit K-12 scholarship funding organization that hosts this blog. “Steve’s ideas about how choice programs should be structured and implemented are still guiding us today. He was a good friend and mentor. I will miss him.”