John Ehle, a novelist, educational leader, and founder of North Carolina School of Science and Mathematics, died on March 24, at the age of 92.

Ehle was instrumental in the founding of NCSSM, working for years with Governor Terry Sanford to bring innovative educational models to the state of North Carolina, first to establish the UNC School of the Arts and the Governor’s School of North Carolina, followed by NCSSM in 1980.

“Concerned that North Carolina’s brightest high school students weren’t being challenged, Ehle proposed setting up four residential high schools on one campus—for science, languages, the humanities and the arts—probably in the Research Triangle,” reports the News and Observer. “Ehle persuaded Gov. Jim Hunt to create the N.C. School [of] Science and Math.”

The Winston-Salem Journal originally reported Ehle’s death, calling him “one of the state’s greatest writers and a formidable promoter of the humanities in North Carolina.” Ehle wrote 17 books, including both fiction and nonfiction, is a member of the N.C. Literary Hall of Fame, and received the North Carolina Award, the state’s highest civilian honor, in 2007.  

Read more on his life and accomplishments:
Appalachian novelist John Ehle dies at 92, Asheville Citizen Times
Revisit late novelist, who founded some of NC’s most innovative schools, News and Observer
John Ehle, celebrated writer and founder of the N.C. School of Arts, dies at age 92, Winston-Salem Journal
John Ehle, Writer, Founder Of UNC School Of The Arts Dies, WUNC