When it came to educating the next generation of teachers, Mickelson believed that staying in the Ivory Tower of academia wasn’t enough to be effective.

The onetime was a department chair in the College of Education, believed that it was important for teachers to go where the children were, said Frank Sutman, a former colleague.

“John practiced what he preached in terns of getting [education] students ready to teach,” Sutman said. “We did a lot of teaching in school buildings. He strongly believed that teaching was the most important activity for faculty members. Research was important, but it wasn’t the main thing.”

During his 37 years at Temple, Mickelson taught in the Curriculum Education and Development Department in the College of Education. He was a consultant for curriculum development for disciplines ranging from preschool to medical school and was the author of many articles on these topics.

During his tenure as department chair, Mickelson was an innovator in student teaching, Sutman said, instituting a program that allowed teachers to go into summer school classrooms to help students who were falling behind.

But while he believed that the purpose of the College of Education was to provide the teachers of tomorrow with the tools they’d need to help the students of tomorrow, Mickelson also believed that the best way to do that was with a cohesive staff.

To that end, he did things that ensured that gave his staff the chance to get to know each other outside of the confines of work, Sutman said.

“We were close professionally and socially under his leadership,” he said. “He felt that it was important for the department to socialize together because people who socialize together, work together better. We had an excellent working environment."

In addition to his work in education at Temple, Mickelson was a member of the school board in the Colonial School District in Plymouth Meeting, Pa. He also was a member of the board of the Friends of William Jeanes Library in Lafayette Hill.

Mickelson was raised in Santa Barbara, Calif., and was an Eagle Scout. He earned his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in education from Occidental College in Los Angeles, and his doctorate in education from the University of Southern California. He taught at the University of Akron [Ohio] before coming to Temple.

He was an Army veteran of World War II.

In addition to his wife, Gail, and son, Peter, Mickelson is survived by a daughter, Marta DeGisi, and seven grandchildren.

Mickelson was buried on May 11 in Whitemarsh Memorial Park, Prospectville, Pa.