* Sidney P. Marland Jr.; Former U.S. Commissioner of Education

Sidney P. Marland Jr., 77, a former U.S. commissioner of education. Marland was a high school English teacher before becoming a school superintendent in Darien and Winnetka, Ill., and Pittsburgh. He was nominated U.S. commissioner of education by President Richard M. Nixon in 1970. He became the nation’s first secretary for education in the Department of Health, Education and Welfare in 1972. Marland resigned after a year to become president of the College Entrance Examination Board, now known as the College Board. In 1978, he was named chairman of the editorial board for Scholastic Magazines Inc. He served on the state Board of Governors for Higher Education from 1983 to 1988. On May 25 of cancer in Hampton, Conn.