Former Brookline High Arts Coordinator Iain Ryrie Dies

Iain Ryrie, a former  West Housemaster, died yesterday. Ryrie, the West Housemaster for 10 years until his retirement at the end of the 2009-10 school year, died from cancer, according to L-S Principal/Superintendent Scott Carpenter.

According to Carpenter, prior to being an L-S housemaster, Ryrie taught drama and coordinated the arts department at Brookline High School. For nearly a third of the current L-S population, he was their housemaster last year and was also the rugby coach for many others.

"Like many L-S educators, Iain gave tirelessly of himself to broaden our student’s extracurricular horizons or to share his joy and his expertise, and like many on our staff, he did this without any extra compensation," Carpenter said in an email. "He found reward in sharing his interests with students and inspiring young people to be the best they can be. He co-taught drama classes and directed both students and staff in improvisations portraying the various social issues of our times. Iain spent hours choreographing graduation, coaching both student speakers and groups performing musical interludes. He entertained all of us by breaking out his electric guitar and performing each year in the cafeteria at lunchtime and in Faculty Variety Show, always accompanied by his son and his L-S ‘mates’ in the Too Tall Blues Band."

[Correction: Article indicated Ryrie passed today, and not yesterday which is accurate.]