KUHBANDER, MELVIN HENRY, 76, passed away February 4, 2012.
Known to family and friends as Mel, and to students as Dr. K, he was born in Dayton, OH on November 21, 1935 to Albert and Helen Kuhbander. Having been taught by Marianists in high school, Mel left home at age 15 to join the Marianist brotherhood and begin a life in education. He studied science and mathematics for his Bachelor's degree at the University of Dayton, then earned a Master's degree from the University of Pittsburgh in mathematics, and went on to teach in the New York school system. In the late 1960s Mel received a dispensation from the brotherhood. He met his wife Sandy Foley in Puerto Rico, where she worked as a nurse and he as a professor of mathematics at the Catholic University. They began a family and Mel continued his education, receiving a Ph.D. from the University of Pennsylvania in Education Administration. During the 1970s he taught, then became a principal, and finally a superintendent in the Pennsylvania public school system. He then moved his family to Singapore where he became superintendent of the Singapore American School. Mel's legacy there is marked by the Melvin H. Kuhbander Fine Arts Center. Mel and his family returned to the states a decade later and he served as President of the Ursuline Campus Schools in Louisville, KY and the Schools for the Catholic Diocese of Peoria, IL. In the last years of his career, he returned to the classroom-a lover of education and a natural performer, his heart was always there-and from 2001 onward he was a math professor at Sullivan University.
Mel loved reading books to school children, though he could never finish "The Velveteen Rabbit" without crying. He was skilled at woodworking and filled his children's homes with furniture. He loved music, from Willie Nelson to Paganini. And he was always quick with clever puns, a skill he seems to have passed on to his children.
He was preceded in death by his parents and his brother, Lawrence.
Mel is survived by his loving family, his wife Sandy; his daughters, Lauren and Anne; and his son, David; and his grandchildren, Cameron and Luke (Lauren and husband, Clayton Thomas), Owen and Max (Anne and husband, Jeffrey Menne), and Sydney and Claire (David and wife, Kimberly Oates).
His life will be honored with a visitation this Thursday from 4-7 p.m. at Highlands Funeral Home, 3331 Taylorsville Rd., Louisville, KY 40205, where a vigil of remembrances will begin at 6:30 p.m. A funeral service will be held Friday at 10 a.m. at the Cathedral of the Assumption at 433 S. 5th St., Louisville, KY, 40202.
In lieu of flowers, please send donations to Blessings in a Backpack, a charity providing meals for impoverished school children (800-872-4366), or to the Cathedral of Assumption Scholarship Fund (see address above).

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