We thank the following Network Leaders for their Fund Raising campaigns in memory of
Lurie Center

Alison Hunter
Mildred Center

Lurie Center, MA

Lurie L. Center dedicated the last 10 years of her career as an educator to improving the math skills of San Diego children. Lurie was a project resource teacher in the San Diego Unified School District and served as president of the Southern California branch of a state organization of math teachers, the California Mathematics Council.

A social worker before launching her teaching career, Lurie decided she could make a greater impact on fellow African-Americans in the classroom.

A California native, Lurie grew up in San Diego and attended Chollas Elementary School, Gompers Secondary School and Lincoln Prep High School. She received a bachelor’s degree in social sciences and an elementary teaching credential in 1968 from San Diego State.

Beginning in 1969 teaching assignments in San Diego took her to Logan, Knox and Grant elementary schools where she taught 3rd grade. While at Grant, she supervised one of her most beloved accomplishments, the African-American Males Club, a district program focusing on improving self-esteem and encouraging career goals.

She also served as a math laboratory instructor at Grant, a position that led to roles on several panels of math educators.

Lurie served on the San Diego Mathematics Project Equity Task Force and helped organize a math conference for teachers and parents from the greater San Diego area.

As a member of the advisory committee of the statewide California Mathematics Project, she tutored area teachers in modern math teaching methods.

Lurie returned to San Diego State for a master’s degree in elementary education in 1975 and a credential to teach gifted students in 1988.

She was a state “Teacher of the Year” nominee in 1991 and was honored the following year by a teaching sorority as a distinguished African-American educator.

Lurie’s support of African-American causes was reflected in her community affiliations. She was active in the Black Student Union at San Diego State, as well as the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People and the Urban League. Lurie was also affiliated with US, an organization promoting education and cultural awareness in the African-American community.

As a member of the 31st Street Seventh-Day Adventist Church, she served as a role of model for young women in the church’s Rites of Passage program.

Lurie was the eldest of nine children and played a supportive role for all her siblings who attended college. She also supported her mother with tutoring when she earned her AA in dressmaking several years after having her youngest child. Returning to school—after marriage and having children—challenged her father's belief that there was no value in educating a woman because she would only become a wife and mother.