John Warren Struck

John Struck, at 93, led state’s vocational school expansion

John W. Struck, who led the creation of Pennsylvania’s modern vocational-technical school system and put a vo-tech school in every county, died at his home in Mechanicsburg on Sunday.  He was 93.

Dr. Struck was state Director of Vocational Education from 1962 to 1980.   When he began his tenure, there were five high schools in Pennsylvania dedicated to training students for vocational, or non-college, careers.

He led a vast expansion of the system in order to give thousands of high school students the opportunity to be trained in vocations ranging from plumbing to electronics to carpentry.   When he left the state service to become the executive director of a national association of vocational education directors, he had built 74 schools, including a vo-tech school that served every county in Pennsylvania.

In addition to serving high schoolers, the schools were used to provide night courses and additional training for thousands of adults seeking new or sharpened jobs skills.  This network of “continuing education” was recognized as one of the leading such efforts in the country.

Dr. Struck retired as head of the National Association of State Directors of Vocation Education in 1987.  He and his wife, Nancy Zartman Struck, lived for many years in Camp Hill, Pennsylvania, before moving to the Bethany Village in 2012.

Dr. Struck had largely followed the footsteps of his father, Ferdinand Theodore Struck, who had headed Penn State’s department for vocational education, then called “industrial” education. Ferdinand Struck wrote a several widely respected books making the case for providing opportunities for students who did not go from high school to college.

John Struck and his father believed such students should be trained to enter well-paying, professional occupations, and that a pool of skilled workers would help attract businesses to the state.

John Struck was born in Harrisburg in 1922.  His grandfather, Ludwig Christian Struck, a contractor, had immigrated to the United States from Germany, hearing of opportunities here and to escape the rise of nationalism in Europe.  The family gradually worked out of their immigrants’ poverty and built a struggling horse farm in Oregon. John Struck’s father eventually taught at the Pennsylvania State University, and his mother Alice Clark Struck was also a teacher, originally from Wisconsin.  The family lived in State College, Pennsylvania, where John Struck had a brother, Robert Struck, who survives him, and Barbara Alice Struck West, who died in April.

John Struck matriculated to Penn State, where he met Nancy Zartman, who was from Shamokin, Pennsylvania.  At Penn State, John was an All-American goalie on the soccer team.  He and Nancy were married in 1944, and celebrated their 72 ^nd wedding anniversary this June.  Their college years were also wartime years and shortly after graduation Struck was sent to serve in Atlanta and then to Italy as an Army captain to command an automotive maintenance company for the occupying forces.

His first son J. Theodore Struck was born in Atlanta, where he had been posted to run a military ordinance training school, in 1945, followed by Lawrence G. Struck in 1947 and Douglas Struck in 1951.

John Struck returned from the service, worked as a construction foreman to gain experience, and then began teaching “shop,” as it was called then, in schools in Williamsport and Milton, Pennsylvania.  In 1953, he was invited to join a State Department-sponsored team to begin a vocational school program in Iraq, then a key Middle East ally of the United States.  With no hesitation—he would later describe cupping the telephone and asking his wife casually, ‘Honey, do you want to go to Iraq?’, to which she replied ‘Sure,’—they moved with their three young sons to Baghdad for two years.

They returned to the States in 1955 and located in Tallahassee, Florida, where Struck taught at Florida State University. With help from his young sons, one other carpenter, and architectural drawings by Nancy Struck, they designed and built a family home in Tallahassee from the foundation up.

In 1962, he was offered the top job for vocational education in Pennsylvania and moved to the Harrisburg area, where they remained.  Once again, John Struck largely constructed the family home, although this time from a shell built by a developer in the then-new community of Pinebrook on the Conodoguinet Creek. They lived there for 49 years.

Nancy Struck served as Director of Volunteers at the Harrisburg Chapter of the American Red Cross, and was instrumental in the relief efforts during and after the widespread flooding from Hurricane Agnes in 1972.

Dr. Struck’s success in building a vocational education program for the state won widespread recognition and was modeled elsewhere.  On a 1975 fact-finding visit to Russia with other educators, he was described in a State Department cable later included in the Wikileaks releases, as having “received numerous citations for his work in vocational education.”

As director, he also advocated forcefully for more vocational programs for minority and disadvantaged students.  “These two groups of people have long been neglected by our public schools,” he wrote in 1970. “Times have changed.  No longer can we continue to neglect and ignore them.”

For many years, “Jack,” as he was known, and Nancy Struck were avid sailors, and long-time members of the Susquehanna Yacht Club.  He also was an accomplished photographer and crafted fine furniture in his basement woodworking shop.

John Struck is survived by Nancy at Bethany Village, his brother Robert, and his three sons. Ted Struck, who retired as a co-founder of a software company, lives in San Diego with his partner, Al Whitley.  Larry Struck, a retired airline pilot, lives in Camp Hill with his wife, Dr. Donna Struck.  Doug Struck, a long-time newspaperman, teaches at a college in Boston.  Grandson Jack Struck is a senior at American University, and granddaughter Julianna Struck is a sophomore at Dickinson College.

A memorial service, followed by a light reception, will be held at 1 pm Saturday at the Camp Hill Presbyterian Church, 101 N. 23 ^rd St., Camp Hill. There will be no interment.  Read Dr. Struck’s full obituary, view his picture, and sign his official guest book by visiting www.Buhrig.com.