![Kibby, Michael (copy)](https://bloximages.chicago2.vip.townnews.com/buffalonews.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/e/61/e61a07c4-2928-11ef-b3c3-9f0d0dcf004e/665bfd7879c97.image.jpg?resize=150%2C150 150w, https://bloximages.chicago2.vip.townnews.com/buffalonews.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/e/61/e61a07c4-2928-11ef-b3c3-9f0d0dcf004e/665bfd7879c97.image.jpg?resize=200%2C200 200w, https://bloximages.chicago2.vip.townnews.com/buffalonews.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/e/61/e61a07c4-2928-11ef-b3c3-9f0d0dcf004e/665bfd7879c97.image.jpg?resize=225%2C225 225w, https://bloximages.chicago2.vip.townnews.com/buffalonews.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/e/61/e61a07c4-2928-11ef-b3c3-9f0d0dcf004e/665bfd7879c97.image.jpg?resize=300%2C300 300w, https://bloximages.chicago2.vip.townnews.com/buffalonews.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/e/61/e61a07c4-2928-11ef-b3c3-9f0d0dcf004e/665bfd7879c97.image.jpg?resize=400%2C400 400w, https://bloximages.chicago2.vip.townnews.com/buffalonews.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/e/61/e61a07c4-2928-11ef-b3c3-9f0d0dcf004e/665bfd7879c97.image.jpg?resize=540%2C540 540w, https://bloximages.chicago2.vip.townnews.com/buffalonews.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/e/61/e61a07c4-2928-11ef-b3c3-9f0d0dcf004e/665bfd7879c97.image.jpg?resize=600%2C600 640w)
Nov. 19, 1942 – May 16, 2024Michael W. Kibby knew what it took to get children to read.
An internationally recognized authority on reading education and a professor emeritus in the University at Buffalo Graduate School of Education, he came to UB in 1971 as the second director of the Reading Clinic, which is known nationally for its research, and served as its head until 2007.
Under his guidance, the clinic was staffed by graduate students, who used his methods to test elementary school youngsters, develop individual improvement plans and work with schools and parents to help them improve their skills.
Writing about the clinic in 1977, Buffalo News reporter Sue Buyer noted that parents were advised to set an example by not only reading to their children, but also by reading themselves.
“If one of Dr. Kibby’s own children asks him what a word means, he tells her,” Buyer wrote. “If the children were older and he wanted to encourage them to use the dictionary, he would say, ‘Bring me the dictionary. We’ll look it up together,’ he says, not ‘Go look it up.’”
Dr. Kibby also spent a decade in public service as president of the Williamsville Board of Education and, at the same time, as a member of the Williamsville Village Board. He was deputy mayor for two years.
He died May 16 in his Williamsville home. He was 81.
Born in Salinas, Calif., he and his mother, the former Hazel K. Fitzpatrick, moved to her hometown of Lansing, Mich., after his father, Hugh E. Mosher, an Army Air Force captain, died in action in a B-52 bomber over Indonesia in 1944.
He earned his bachelor’s degree in 1965 from Wayne State University in Detroit and completed his master’s degree and doctorate in language and learning at the University of Chicago.
At UB, he served concurrently for 12 years as chairman of the Graduate School of Education’s Department of Learning and Instruction and for two years as associate dean of technology.
Dr. Kibby taught thousands of reading specialists, many of whom went on to become professors. His diagnostic and teaching methods were used around the world. He took emeritus status in 1999.
He received the Distinguished Professor Award from his department in 1991, the Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in Teaching in 1994 and the Dean’s Apple Award for all-around service to the Graduate School of Education in 2000. He also was listed in Marquis Who’s Who.
On his tribute page following his death, a former student wrote: “Dr. Kibby was a font of knowledge and perhaps the toughest, yet fairest of professors I had in grad school. I loved his asides, or ‘marginalia’ as he called it. He taught us to back up our opinions with research. ... He really was bigger than life.”
Dr. Kibby published 22 journal articles and gave many presentations, nationally and internationally, on reading education.
He was author of a highly regarded textbook, “Practical Steps for Informing Literacy Instruction: A Diagnostic Decision-Making Model.”
He served on six national committees monitoring the National Assessment of Educational Progress project and was a member of the editorial boards of four leading reading education journals.
Beginning in 1978, he served for 13 years on the Williamsville Central School District Board of Education, including three terms as president during a time when declining enrollment was forcing decisions on which elementary schools to close.
He was appointed to the Williamsville Village Board in 1981 to fill an unexpired term of Paul C. Atkinson, who resigned. Dr. Kibby was elected to a full term on the Village Party ticket in 1982 and won a second term in 1985 after the Village Party split and he formed the Independent People’s Party.
He served two years as deputy mayor under Mayor Lawrence R. Brenton, then decided not to run for another term in 1989 in order to devote more time to his work at UB.
He also served on the Erie County Substance Abuse Task Force and on the board of directors of the Audubon Development Corp.
His marriage to the former Mary Jane Stow ended in divorce. He was remarried in 1984 to Carol Anne Bailey Adams, who also was serving on the Williamsville School Board. They maintained a winter home in Osprey, Fla.
He traveled the world and enjoyed cooking for family gatherings.
In addition to his wife, survivors include two daughters, Jennifer Kibby and Andrea Burnham; two stepsons, Andrew Adams and John Adams; a stepdaughter, Allison Adams; and nine grandchildren.
A celebration of his life will be held from 1 to 4 p.m. June 28 in the Reikart House, 5000 Main St., Amherst.