A prominent deaf rights advocate has died. Lawrence Newman, who fought for the right of deaf students to be educated using ASL, was 86 years old when he passed away in Riverside, California following complications during emergency surgery. He was suffering from Parkinson's disease. Once a teacher and administrator at the California School for the Deaf in Riverside, Newman served as president of NAD during the DPN protests at Gallaudet University, where he attended school. He later earned a master's degree in English Literature from Catholic University. Newman once headed the International Association of Parents of the Deaf (now the American Society for Deaf Children). He became the first deaf teacher in California selected as California Teacher of the Year in 1969. Deaf at the age of 5 due to a chronic ear infection, Newman wrote Sands of Time: NAD Presidents 1880-2003 and I Fill this Small Space: The Writings of a Deaf Activist.
