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Our Founder
Dr. John Richards (1934-2002) Founder, The Winston School
John Richards, a pediatrician devoted to children with
learning differences, founded the first hospital-based
Center for School Problems in the nation at Kaiser
Hospital-San Diego, and then went on to found The Winston
School.
Born in 1934 at Mishawaka, Indiana, John attended Wittenberg
University in Springfield, Ohio and Indiana University
Medical School. After pediatric residency at Stanford
University, he served the Lutheran Church of America in
India, before coming to San Diego first as a Navy
pediatrician at Camp Pendleton, and subsequently at Kaiser
Permanente.
John Richards’ decision to stay in San Diego had
tremendous repercussions for the care and education of
learning-different children in our community. John realized
very early that difficulties such as dyslexia and attention
deficits often obscured innate intelligence and led to
failures of education and of self-esteem. In 1974, he
founded the Center for School Problems at Kaiser, with staff
making routine visits to both home and school when a child
wasn’t doing well, and encouraging educators and other
professionals to find better ways to help these struggling
and demoralized youngsters.
Meanwhile, John was searching for a model for the ideal
school - which he believed would provide both remediation
and by-pass strategies - and traveled the country in pursuit
of his vision, including an appearance in 1980 on The Today
Show. Following the show, he received a letter from Paul
Erwin, then headmaster of the first Winston School in
Dallas, Texas, inviting him for the seminal visit which
ultimately occurred a year later in 1981.
John was tremendously impressed by what he saw at Winston
Dallas and campaigned for the next seven years to build a
like school in San Diego. The turning point came with the
offer of Paul Erwin himself to act as founding headmaster.
Mr. Erwin was a charismatic leader, much like John Richards,
and Winston San Diego opened its doors on the campus of the
vacated Del Mar Shores School to thirty-four children in
September, 1988.
The rest is history. John Richards continued to serve the
children of Winston School in every capacity, including as
fiercely energetic President of the Board of Trustees, until
his tragic death in January 2002 at age 67, while on a
bicycling tour in Vietnam. His legacy is all around us.
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