Sherry Joan Kurland; Helped Found the Open School

Sherry Joan Kurland, a longtime Sherman Oaks resident who helped found the Open School in Los Angeles, has died in Encino. She was 49.

Mrs. Kurland died Saturday of cancer, her husband Richard Kurland said.

Born Sherry Joan Kaufman on July 23, 1941, in Los Angeles, she grew up in the Los Feliz area. She graduated from Marshall High School in 1959 and earned a bachelor of arts degree in public administration from UCLA in 1963.

In 1979, she became recruitment director for the Los Angeles-based Coro Southern California Center, a nonprofit leadership training organization, where she remained until her death.

Mrs. Kurland joined a group of Valley parents in proposing the Los Angeles Unified School District form a magnet school in Los Angeles to give students an integrated learning experience. Called the Open School, it was established on the campus of Rosewood Avenue School in Los Angeles in the late 1970s. Her daughter traveled nearly three hours round-trip via bus to attend the school, which serves grades first through sixth.

She was also an officer with the Spastic Children’s Guild in the early 1970s.

She is survived by her husband of 27 years; son Jeffrey Kurland of Stanford, Calif.; daughter Shana Kurland of Middletown, Conn.; parents Lew and Violet Kaufman of Encino; and brother H.R. (Rick) Kaufman of Blue Jay, Calif.

A funeral was held Monday with burial at Hillside Memorial Park in Los Angeles. Hillside Mortuary handled the arrangements. Donations can be made in Mrs. Kurland’s name to the Coro Southern California Center, 609 S. Grand Ave., Suite 810, Los Angeles 90017.