H. Donn McCafferty of Lake Worth, Fla., died Wednesday, Sept. 8, 2010.

Born April 4, 1929, in Butler, he was the son of H.H. McCafferty and Isabel McCafferty.

He graduated from Butler High School and had degrees from Allegheny College and George Washington University. Mr. McCafferty did further graduate work at Tufts and Harvard universities.

During the Korean War, as a member of the U.S. Air Force, he served at the Pentagon in Washington, D.C.

Mr. McCafferty was an innovative professional educator, teaching in Pennsylvania and New Jersey. For the New Jersey State Department of Education, he served as its first social science consultant. For the Asia Society and the U.S. State Department, Mr. McCafferty worked in India, 1967. Further professional work was done in 1970-71 in Honduras for the Alliance for Progress. He served in various leadership positions for the Vermont State Department of Education for more than a 22-year period.

The Vermont Academy of Arts and Sciences elected him as a member in 1977 and as its president 1981-1984.

Mr. McCafferty was a director of the Vermont Student Assistance Corp. from 1970 until 1986, when he became chairman, serving until 1990.

He served on the boards of many national, New England and arts associations.Mr. McCafferty was a former Rotarian.In retirement, Mr. McCafferty was active with the Lake Worth College Park Homeowners associations and often served as a supernumerary for the Palm Beach Opera.Surviving are his sister, Janice M. McWilliams and a nephew, Bruce McWilliams, both of Warm Springs, Va; and his nieces Beth McWilliams of Surprise, Ariz., and Jane McWilliams of Fort Myers, Fla.He was and is the best.