Rich Drozd, 61, the storied and much-loved English teacher and coach at Georgetown Prep for 29 years, died on June 30 after complications from an aneurysm of the brain.

Famous for his acerbic wit and engaging teaching style, Rich taught freshman, sophomore, junior, and senior classes, including both AP Literature and AP Language, as well as his very popular—and challenging—Film as Literature course. A teacher’s teacher, Rich’s clear vision played a large role in shaping the content of Prep’s English curriculum. In many ways a traditionalist, Rich stressed strong critical reading and writing skills and demanded excellence of his students. He believed in the human character of the stories he taught, and he pushed his students to become better readers and writers of that truth and thus recognize themselves.

2010 graduate Blair Meek says that “Mr. Drozd conveyed his lessons with a burning passion evident to anyone who would listen, and we all did. His was a class that students eagerly anticipated because they knew a good time was right behind his door.” Meek adds that “everything Mr. Drozd did was grounded in compassion; he listened to us actively and with concern.” Classmate Owen Davis claims that “Mr. Drozd opened my eyes to the world through film,” and his older brother Trevor calls him “my favorite teacher ever.”

Rich mentored many teachers at Prep and was generous with his time and advice. Friend and former Prep English teacher Amy Ciccone recalls that “Rich made a new, young teacher feel at home in the Georgetown Prep community; he made it his job to look out for me and check in with me from time to time to make sure I was doing ok. He bought me jelly donuts when I was stressed, and we talked about how to use sarcasm as a teaching tool when dealing with sophomore boys.” Former student turned colleague and fellow coach Carey Smith says poignantly that Rich’s “life's love and strict correspondence between word and deed forever will inspire” those that know him.

Rich committed himself to Georgetown Prep in and out of the classroom. A clear and insightful thinker—and one who never minced words—Rich served in many capacities, including on committees on Faculty Compensation, Headmaster Search, Discipline, and Curriculum; he served as Chairman of the English department from 1988 to 1998. He helped integrate the Advanced Placement curriculum into the English department, and he worked as an AP lead grader and gave seminars to new teachers. Rich may be best remembered for his coaching: between 1985 and the present he led the Little Hoyas in JV tennis, freshman basketball, Track and Field, and, since 1992, in Cross Country. In 2004 he was named the Washington Post Spring Track Coach of the Year.

In 1993 Rich took on the enormous task of organizing and managing the Georgetown Prep Cross Country Classic, which hosts up to 5,000 runners. It was an event which gathered the Prep community as most of the faculty and staff, as well as many students and alumni and parents, chipped in to help with the all-day event.

Rich was born in Jersey City, New Jersey, in 1949. He attended the Jesuit schools St. Peter’s Prep and then St. Peter’s College, from which he received his Bachelors degree in English literature with a minor in mathematics in 1971. He earned his Masters in English literature from the University of Maryland in 1973. Rich taught at several schools, including the University of Maryland, Strayer College, and the Washington School for Secretaries before joining the faculty at Prep in 1981. Rich specialized in American Literature, and he also pursued his love of film, teaching several classes in Film Studies, on Alfred Hitchcock, and on Horror Films and Gothic literature; he wrote film reviews for the Washington Book World in the late 1970s.

Rich is survived by his wife of 25 years, retired Prep English teacher Bonnie Hanes; his mother, Corinne Irvine, two sisters and a brother.

As a man of deep faith and enormous generosity, a man who lived everyday humbly and with love for his family, friends and students, Rich is missed.

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