Frank Macchiarola, the former head of New York City’s school system, died yesterday at 71 after a long illness.
Chancellor Dennis Walcott said Macchiarola “was a strong chancellor, known for his quick wit and dedication to the city’s public- school children.’’
Macchiarola also served as dean of Yeshiva University’s Cardozo law school and was a professor at both Columbia and CUNY.
In 1996, he became president of St. Francis College in Brooklyn, his alma mater.
His survivors include his wife, Mary; three sons, Joseph, Michael and Frank; and seven grandchildren. His nephew Joseph is an advertising executive at The Post.
A funeral Mass is scheduled for 10 a.m. today at the Cathedral-Basilica of St. James on Jay Street in Brooklyn.
* Editorial Tribute in Opinion