Marjorie Montague, a professor in the School of Education and Human Development who created a program that helps students with learning disabilities to understand, analyze, and solve mathematical equations, passed away on Sunday, May 13.

“Marjorie made great contributions to the University and the scholarly community,” said Dean Isaac Prilleltensky. “She was a distinguished researcher and great mentor to junior colleagues and doctoral students. We mourn her passing and send our condolences to her family and friends.”

Montague, who had been a faculty member in the school’s Department of Teaching and Learning since 1987, focused on learning disabilities and emotional and behavioral disorders in children. She co-directed the master’s and doctoral programs in learning, behavioral, and attention disorders and chaired more than 20 doctoral dissertations.

“Her selfless support and incredible generosity of spirit and experience in mentoring doctoral students and supporting junior faculty will be remembered,” wrote assistant professor Wendy Cavendish and senior research associate Sharlene Pont, both of whom worked closely with Montague at the school.

Montague published numerous articles, book chapters, books, and curricular materials, and served on the editorial boards of Learning Disabilities Quarterly, Learning Disabilities Research and Practice, and Journal of Learning Disabilities. She was a former president of the Division for Research – Council for Exceptional Children, and chair of the American Educational Research Association’s Special Interest Group titled Special Education Research. She served for many years on the Executive Board of the International Academy for Research in Learning Disabilities, most recently holding the post of treasurer for over 200 international scholars and educators.

Montague received numerous federal research and training grants totaling approximately $10 million. She was principal investigator of  “A Longitudinal Study of Co-Morbidity of Disorders in Children and Adolescents,” which was funded by the U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Special Education Programs.

The Institute of Education Sciences awarded her a $2 million research grant for her project titled “Improving Mathematics Performance of At Risk Students and Students with Learning Disabilities in Urban Middle Schools.” That project tested the efficacy of Solve It, an intervention to teach students with learning disabilities how to solve mathematical problems by developing the processes and strategies that effective problem solvers use.