Ed Kahler opened Cambridge School.
By: Melissa Morgan
Ed Kahler was employed by the South Brunswick Board of Education for 38 years, but his friends and colleagues insist he was never afraid of change.
"His being there a long time didn’t mean he was stale," said Fred Nadler, who taught at Cambridge School and later was the first principal at Crossroads. "He grew during all those years."
Mr. Kahler became the first principal of Cambridge School in Kendall Park when it opened in 1957 until he retired in 1990.
He died Sunday at the age of 72 at Buckingham Place in Monmouth Junction. He leaves with a reputation of being an innovator, leader and founding father of the now bustling South Brunswick School District.
Born in New Brunswick and raised in South River, he was a longtime resident of South Brunswick.
Cambridge teacher Jesse Parker said Mr. Kahler hired her for her first job as a kindergarten teacher at Cambridge. She described him as warm, friendly and always willing to listen.
"If you had an idea, he would let you run with it," she said. "He was a great person to work for and very supportive of what we were doing."
Jim Kimple, South Brunswick superintendent from 1962-1988, said Mr. Kahler was a confident principal who worked well with his teachers.
"He was always willing to try something different," he said.
Mr. Kahler was one of the first educators trained to teach special education and Dr. Kimple said, for a few years, he and his staff members where engaged in teaching ungraded classes, where kids learn according to their individual capacities instead of age.
"When it was a more rural setting, every class had three reading groups and two math groups and all the kids had to fit in. Having more students meant being about having more groups and a more individualized approach," Mr. Kahler said in 1997 about the growth of the district when Cambridge School was built. "Kids could develop at their own level and the teachers’ role changed. They began teaching to the individual."
Mr. Kahler said the teachers also had to concern themselves with acclimating new students and parents from the Kendall Park housing development, built during the late 1950s.
"We had to help families assimilate from New York and Philadelphia who weren’t from a rural background," he said. "It worked out very well and the parents became very involved."
Before Mr. Kahler became principal at Cambridge, he started his career as a fourth- and fifth-grade teacher at Monmouth Junction School in 1952 and a special education teacher at Deans School from 1954-1957.
Mr. Kahler’s daughter, Jean Stanfield of Westhampton, N.Y., said her father also brought his strong beliefs in education home to his own children. He was a graduate of South River High School and received a bachelor’s degree in education from Trenton State College now The College of New Jersey and his master’s degree from Rutgers University.
Ms. Stanfield credits her enrollment in law school to her father’s focus on learning and said he always insisted the family take educational vacations and that she regularly put a portion of her allowance into a college fund.
"There was always a lesson to be learned," she said. "The value of education was always there."
Like many of his colleagues, Ms. Stanfield said, her father was known for innovation.
"Teachers liked him because he was open to new ideas," she said. "He was able to change with the times."
Perhaps one of the few times Mr. Kahler did stick to tradition was when it came to the school dress code. Cambridge resource teacher Anna Pinelli, who worked with Mr. Kahler for over 20 years, said when she started teaching at Cambridge in 1968, female teachers had to wear skirts or dresses. She said after two years, she asked Mr. Kahler permission to begin wearing pants and he agreed as long as it was still a pants suit.
"We always had to look professional," she said.
Ms. Pinelli said Mr. Kahler was very protective of his school and treated the teachers as family.
"He had faith in all of the teachers and always stood by us no matter what," she said.
When Dr. Nadler became a teacher for the first time at Cambridge, he said, Mr. Kahler offered him tons of guidance and advice. Dr. Nadler continued to rely on him as a mentor throughout his tenure as an administrator in the district.
"He was a wonderful person that was firm but fair and well respected," he said.
Dr. Kimple said Mr. Kahler was often strict, but had a good relationship with his students.
"He was whatever he needed to be, whether it was tough or pleasant, he would do it," he said.
Mr. Kahler’s son, Edward Kahler III of Kendall Park, said he was also a great father.
"He was a big family man," he said. "We did everything together."
In his spare time, his children said Mr. Kahler enjoyed gardening, plants, reading and Broadway theater.
He was a veteran of the U.S. Army, a former member of the South Brunswick Lions Club, a charter member and first clerk of session of the Community Presbyterian Church of the Sand Hills and an elder at The First Presbyterian Church of Dayton. After his retirement, he was appointed to the South Brunswick Library board of trustees and served as a liaison to the Cultural Arts Commission, Cable TV Commission and was on the board of directors for the Wynwood Condominium Association.
He was also a current member of the N.J. Principals and Supervisors Association, the Retired Educators Association and the N.J. Retired Educators Association. He was active in educational affairs and formerly served as president of the South Brunswick Education Association and secretary of the South Brunswick School Administration Association.
His parents, Edward L. and Marie Kahler, and his wife, Elizabeth, died before him. He is also survived by a sister, Nancy Froude of South River; two grandchildren, Katherine and Edward Stanfield; two great grandchildren, Sierra and James Kahler; and many nieces and cousins.
A memorial service for Mr. Kahler will be held at 1 p.m. Saturday at The First Presbyterian Church of Dayton on Georges Road. Contributions may be made to the church at P.O. Box 435, Dayton, N.J. 08810 or to the American Diabetes Association, 1701 N. Beauregard St., Alexandria, Va. 22311.
Dr. Kimple said Mr. Kahler was a great principal and will be missed greatly by all his former colleagues.
"I never heard anyone say anything bad about Ed," he said. "He was a good administrator and a great person."

