Dr. Thomas Joseph Fitzgibbon died on October 3rd in Holly Hill, Florida at the age of 88, surrounded by his family. Chronic Myelogenous Leukemia was the cause of death.
Born in 1923 to Irish immigrant farmers in Elkhart, Illinois, Dr. Fitzgibbon used a basketball scholarship and the GI Bill, after captaining a WWII landing craft in the Pacific, to obtain degrees from Western Illinois University and a PHD in Educational Psychology from Bradley University.
After working as a counseling director with public schools Dr. Fitzgibbon moved to California and worked as a Vice-President for the California Test Bureau and Hughes Dynamics. He began to adopt early computer technology for test creation, scoring, interpretation and computer aided instruction (CAI).
In the 1970s Harcourt Brace Jovanovich picked Dr. Fitzgibbon to expand their nascent testing division and he eventually became the President of The Psychological Corporation in New York City. From 1975-1976 he was elected President of the National Council for Measurement in Education (NCME), an international association of assessment professionals. He published many papers advocating the proper and fair use of testing in schools and business. Dr. Fitzgibbon gave passionate speeches including the memorably titled "Dear Momma: Why Don't They Love Me Anymore" as critics railed against standardized testing. He wanted tests to be used properly to help educators educate, help children learn and not be used as exclusionary tools.
He later moved to Florida and consulted with the Techne Group, TASA and CASAS. He actively worked as a measurement professional until he was 86. Dr. Fitzgibbon was always concerned that "tests are a good first step, but how do we assist teachers in interpreting the results and helping the kids?"