Robert Tucker, educator in Roosevelt and Uniondale schools, dies at 78
Robert Tucker, a former Roosevelt Middle School principal, died on March 26. Credit: Tucker Family
His mother had come north from Summerville, South Carolina, seeking a better life for her five children. But not long into his new life on Long Island, Robert Tucker wasn’t certain they’d found it.
Dissatisfied with his family’s living conditions, Tucker dropped out of Freeport High School and took work with a dry cleaner. Within a few months he and his brother saved enough for the family to buy a home in nearby Roosevelt in circa 1962 when he was 16.
The moment is a telling one in the life of Tucker, who died March 26 in Williamsburg, Virginia. He was 78.
A career educator in the Roosevelt and Uniondale school districts, “Dr. Tucker” served as a science teacher, a high school football coach, and a middle school principal, and left a mark on those who knew him, recalled friends, former colleagues and students this week.
Roosevelt Union Free School District Superintendent Deborah L. Wortham met Tucker when he visited the high school after he’d retired.
“I’d heard so much about him,” she said, “so the first thing I said was, ‘Do you really walk on water?’ That was his reputation … he was such an outstanding, ethical man — and, still, he was just so humble.”
Coaxed out of retirement, Tucker became principal of the new Roosevelt Middle School in September 2008, where he began a then-controversial uniform policy for students that proved so successful it is now the norm in all Roosevelt schools, one of few public school districts in the nation to have a uniform dress code.
“He had compassion, but he was tough,” said longtime friend Don Crummell, who played football on Roosevelt teams coached by Tucker in the 1970s. “But he knew how to make a path for a kid who was struggling. … As a young Black man, I was in awe, because I’d never seen someone in education like he was who looked like me.”
Having helped his mother buy a home, Tucker returned to school, became a star offensive lineman at Roosevelt, playing center, and was in Roosevelt's first graduating class in 1964. He earned a scholarship to Hampton University, the prestigious, historic Black college in Hampton, Virginia, becoming captain of the football team. After graduation, Tucker became a teacher at Pembroke High School in Hampton, coaching football and wrestling, before returning to Roosevelt to teach science.
A longtime resident of Freeport, Tucker was an assistant principal at Uniondale High School, an assistant principal and principal at Lawrence Road Middle School in Uniondale, then principal at Roosevelt Middle School.
En route, he earned a master’s in science at Hampton, a Ph.D. at Seton Hall University, worked as a recreation director at both the Mitchel Field Athletic Complex and Freeport Recreation Center, served as a volunteer and usher at the Church of God on Babylon Turnpike in Freeport and later at the New Zion Baptist Church in Williamsburg, where he will be memorialized April 20.
He also was head coach of the Roosevelt football team from 1974-77.
Then known by her maiden surname Rosser, Mary Jean Tucker was a freshman from Lynchburg, Virginia, when she first encountered Bob Tucker at Hampton. He and his football teammates were camped on the stairs outside the women’s dorm and wouldn’t let them pass, Tucker singling out Mary Jean for a public “prank” before letting them enter.
When a mutual friend approached Mary Jean a short time later to arrange a date with Tucker, she had no interest.
“I said, ‘I don’t want to meet him,' ” she recalled. “But, my friend said, ‘He’s not so bad.’” The two dated three years, then married on July 27, 1968, spending the next 55 years together and raising three children — Renee, Rhonda Sherrae and Robert Scott. There are six grandchildren.
“I liked his gentle but serious manner,” Mary Jean said. “He was gentle, a mentor, with religious-based values. He was genuinely nice.
“And,” she said, “was he a good looker.”
Tucker was an avid bicyclist and belonged to a group called the “Cruise Brothers,” biking a dozen or more miles each morning until sidelined by a stroke in 2015. And, Mary Jean said, her husband loved to travel, often spontaneously loading the family into the car — and setting off for parts unknown: apple picking in New Paltz, a drive to Canada.
“He’d get in the car, say, ‘Which way do you want to go? East, west, north, south?’ ” Mary Jean recalled. “Our friends called it ‘Tuckering.’”
“He was amazing,” daughter Renee said. “The big brown bear — and, a gentle giant. I was the child who asked a thousand questions and he was the dad who answered every one of them. If he didn’t know, he’d find out … . . There was nothing too great or too small I couldn’t talk to him about. And I was not only the first daughter, I was the first son, too. He taught me to work on cars. We did sheetrock and studs in the basement. He had me help him build a patio. And, as busy as my father was, he made every dance recital, every basketball game, every play I was in. Every cotillion.
“He was there for everything. And, he did that for every one of us.”
As longtime friend Nateasha McVea, who was mentored by Tucker and now serves as assistant superintendent for curriculum and instruction at Roosevelt, said this week: “What do I think of when I think of him? He made it very clear to me to remember who you are, remember where you come from, but that you also have the ability to set your own course — but only if you have a compass … He taught me it’s OK not to know, but it’s not OK to not seek out an answer. That was his example.”
Correction: A previous version of this story incorrectly identified the Uniondale middle school where Tucker worked.
His mother had come north from Summerville, South Carolina, seeking a better life for her five children. But not long into his new life on Long Island, Robert Tucker wasn’t certain they’d found it.
Dissatisfied with his family’s living conditions, Tucker dropped out of Freeport High School and took work with a dry cleaner. Within a few months he and his brother saved enough for the family to buy a home in nearby Roosevelt in circa 1962 when he was 16.
The moment is a telling one in the life of Tucker, who died March 26 in Williamsburg, Virginia. He was 78.
A career educator in the Roosevelt and Uniondale school districts, “Dr. Tucker” served as a science teacher, a high school football coach, and a middle school principal, and left a mark on those who knew him, recalled friends, former colleagues and students this week.
Roosevelt Union Free School District Superintendent Deborah L. Wortham met Tucker when he visited the high school after he’d retired.
“I’d heard so much about him,” she said, “so the first thing I said was, ‘Do you really walk on water?’ That was his reputation … he was such an outstanding, ethical man — and, still, he was just so humble.”
Coaxed out of retirement, Tucker became principal of the new Roosevelt Middle School in September 2008, where he began a then-controversial uniform policy for students that proved so successful it is now the norm in all Roosevelt schools, one of few public school districts in the nation to have a uniform dress code.
“He had compassion, but he was tough,” said longtime friend Don Crummell, who played football on Roosevelt teams coached by Tucker in the 1970s. “But he knew how to make a path for a kid who was struggling. … As a young Black man, I was in awe, because I’d never seen someone in education like he was who looked like me.”
Returns to high school
Having helped his mother buy a home, Tucker returned to school, became a star offensive lineman at Roosevelt, playing center, and was in Roosevelt's first graduating class in 1964. He earned a scholarship to Hampton University, the prestigious, historic Black college in Hampton, Virginia, becoming captain of the football team. After graduation, Tucker became a teacher at Pembroke High School in Hampton, coaching football and wrestling, before returning to Roosevelt to teach science.
A longtime resident of Freeport, Tucker was an assistant principal at Uniondale High School, an assistant principal and principal at Lawrence Road Middle School in Uniondale, then principal at Roosevelt Middle School.
En route, he earned a master’s in science at Hampton, a Ph.D. at Seton Hall University, worked as a recreation director at both the Mitchel Field Athletic Complex and Freeport Recreation Center, served as a volunteer and usher at the Church of God on Babylon Turnpike in Freeport and later at the New Zion Baptist Church in Williamsburg, where he will be memorialized April 20.
He also was head coach of the Roosevelt football team from 1974-77.
Then known by her maiden surname Rosser, Mary Jean Tucker was a freshman from Lynchburg, Virginia, when she first encountered Bob Tucker at Hampton. He and his football teammates were camped on the stairs outside the women’s dorm and wouldn’t let them pass, Tucker singling out Mary Jean for a public “prank” before letting them enter.
When a mutual friend approached Mary Jean a short time later to arrange a date with Tucker, she had no interest.
“I said, ‘I don’t want to meet him,' ” she recalled. “But, my friend said, ‘He’s not so bad.’” The two dated three years, then married on July 27, 1968, spending the next 55 years together and raising three children — Renee, Rhonda Sherrae and Robert Scott. There are six grandchildren.
“I liked his gentle but serious manner,” Mary Jean said. “He was gentle, a mentor, with religious-based values. He was genuinely nice.
“And,” she said, “was he a good looker.”
Loved to travel
Tucker was an avid bicyclist and belonged to a group called the “Cruise Brothers,” biking a dozen or more miles each morning until sidelined by a stroke in 2015. And, Mary Jean said, her husband loved to travel, often spontaneously loading the family into the car — and setting off for parts unknown: apple picking in New Paltz, a drive to Canada.
“He’d get in the car, say, ‘Which way do you want to go? East, west, north, south?’ ” Mary Jean recalled. “Our friends called it ‘Tuckering.’”
“He was amazing,” daughter Renee said. “The big brown bear — and, a gentle giant. I was the child who asked a thousand questions and he was the dad who answered every one of them. If he didn’t know, he’d find out … . . There was nothing too great or too small I couldn’t talk to him about. And I was not only the first daughter, I was the first son, too. He taught me to work on cars. We did sheetrock and studs in the basement. He had me help him build a patio. And, as busy as my father was, he made every dance recital, every basketball game, every play I was in. Every cotillion.
“He was there for everything. And, he did that for every one of us.”
As longtime friend Nateasha McVea, who was mentored by Tucker and now serves as assistant superintendent for curriculum and instruction at Roosevelt, said this week: “What do I think of when I think of him? He made it very clear to me to remember who you are, remember where you come from, but that you also have the ability to set your own course — but only if you have a compass … He taught me it’s OK not to know, but it’s not OK to not seek out an answer. That was his example.”
Correction: A previous version of this story incorrectly identified the Uniondale middle school where Tucker worked.
John Valenti, a reporter at Newsday since 1981, has been honored nationally by the Associated Press and Society of the Silurians for investigative, enterprise and breaking news reporting, as well as column writing, and is the author of “Swee'pea,” a book about former New York playground basketball star Lloyd Daniels. Valenti is featured in the Emmy Award-winning ESPN 30-for-30 film “Big Shot.”
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