Stephen L. Schechter (1945-2022) passed away from cancer on July 18, 2022, at age 76. He was Professor Emeritus of Political Science at Russell Sage College, Troy, New York, where he taught from 1978 to 2020. He received the college’s Consistent Outstanding Service Award in 2018.
Schechter earned his PhD from the University of Pittsburgh’s Graduate School of Public and International Affairs in 1972 before serving as Visiting Assistant Professor of Political Science and Urban Studies at Temple University (1972-1976), where he directed international programs for the Center for the Study of Federalism. He then served as Assistant Professor of Political Science at the State University of New York at Albany from 1976 to 1977.
As a long-time fellow and, in recent years, vice president of the Center for the Study of Federalism (https://federalism.org/), Stephen was an invaluable colleague who established a considerable institutional legacy. He participated in launching Publius: The Journal of Federalism, founded Publius’ Annual Review of American Federalism, edited it from 1977 to 1984, and coedited the 1985 issue. Called “The State of American Federalism,” the annual review was intended to reach an educated lay audience in addition to scholars and to show how the perspective of federalism provides a helpful way to understand and interpret current political issues in the American governmental system.
In 1977, Stephen was a co-founder of the International Association of Centers for Federal Studies (https://iacfs.org/). In 1983, he co-founded the Section on Federalism and Intergovernmental Relations of the American Political Science Association—the association’s first such section (https://connect.apsanet.org/groups/federalism-and-intergovernmental-relations/).
On leave from Russell Sage College, he served as executive director (1986-1990) of the New York State Commission on the Bicentennial of the United States Constitution. The commission produced more publications and education materials than any other state commission. Edited books included Well Begun: Chronicles of the Early National Period (New York Commission on the Bicentennial of the United States Constitution 1989), Roots of the Republic: American Founding Documents Interpreted (Madison House 1990), and Contexts of the Bill of Rights (New York Commission on the Bicentennial of the United States Constitution 1990). As a lead-up to the bicentennial, he edited The Reluctant Pillar: New York and the Adoption of the Federal Constitution (Rowman and Littlefield 1985).
In 2018, he revived a training program for New York’s State Academy for Public Administration (https://stateacademy.org/). To honor Stephen after his death, the academy changed the name of its Essentials of Public Administration Program to the Stephen L. Schechter Essentials of Public Service and Leadership Program. He also worked with Troy’s Department of City Planning to reinvigorate city neighborhoods and train new neighborhood leaders and, in 2000-2003, directed “Own a Home,” a Sage-Troy homeownership program for downtown Troy. Until his death, he chaired the Social Justice/Tikkun Olam committee at Congregation Agudat Achim in Schenectady, New York.
His greatest passion was for civic education and democratic practices at home and abroad. He founded the Council for Citizenship Education at Russell Sage College in 1990 and directed it until 2022. Over the years, his council produced materials and conducted workshops and training for thousands of teachers in the United States and many other countries such as Armenia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Georgia, Iraq, Kazakhstan, Mongolia, Russia, and South Africa. Stephen enjoyed the challenge of making complex political ideas accessible to students, teachers, and other citizens worldwide. He was the second American to be awarded the “Friendship Medal of Mongolia” by the president of Mongolia. He received a Distinguished Service Award (2004-2005) and Special Service Award (1996) from the New York State Council for the Social Studies; a Distinguished Service Award (1998) from the Capital District Council for the Social Studies; and an Outstanding Leadership Award (1991) from the Law, Youth and Citizenship Program of the New York State Bar Association and Department of Education. He also worked closely with the Center for Civic Education (CCE) from 1988 until his death, serving as a scholar at teacher workshops, grant writer, conference administrator, consultant, and state coordinator for various CCE projects.
Stephen was a wonderful colleague in many summer institutes for United States K-12 teachers hosted by the Center for the Study of Federalism and funded by the National Endowment for the Humanities as well as the Center’s summer institutes for young international scholars funded by the United States Department of State. Most of the institutes were held at resorts in the Rocky Mountains, Stephen’s second beloved mountains after the Adirondacks. He also enjoyed reading insightful novels about the American West.
His last major book publications were as coeditor of Exploring Political Ideas: Concepts That Shape our World (CQ Press, 2010) and editor-in-chief of American Governance (Macmillan Reference 2016) a five-volume encyclopedia that won an American Library Association Award as one of the best reference works of 2017.
Stephen is survived by his wife Stephanie, who was a vital partner in his global civic education work, his daughter Sarah Davis, granddaughter Juliana, and step-daughter Kelly Sommerman and her family. Everyone who knew Stephen benefitted from his life and admired his fervent commitments in and out of the classroom to educate people—young and old—to be good citizens and supporters of democratic governance. In federalism, he saw pathways to foster liberty, enhance self-government, protect diversity, and cultivate peace.
