John Bear has passed away

I truly loved John Bear. Another loss indeed. He helped so many, myself includedto get where I wanted to go.

I won't forget him!

 

A truly sad passing. He was a good man and very helpful to me in so many ways.

 

John loved and respected education. He fought for education because he knew our world would be a much better place with a strong educational system.

 

To our great nontraditional educator —

 

Condolences. Thank you for letting us know, Steve.

 

Rest in peace.

 

Ahh man. This is heartbreaking. For we old timers, he was a beacon in the night.

 

I am saddened, but have fond memories of many hours spent in his books, and later in correspondence with John. Wishing his family all the best...

 

There simply are no words. He meant so much to me.

 

I'm sad, but I'm remembering my interactions with him. He once gave me advice on the best "first" book to pitch to publishers, suggesting that cookbooks were a way to get a foot through the door of the tightly controlled publishing industry. He wrote and co-wrote several cookbooks, including this one:
https://www.amazon.com/Not-Your-Mothers-Cookbook-Adventurous/dp/0943389372

So he was as well known for his cooking as for his knowledge of navigating college/university systems.

I remind myself that he's left a legacy that will be with us always.
(Edit: typo)

 

I met John in an interesting way. I was a learner at Union, where the learner builds his/her committee. You were required to pull in two people as adjuncts to be subject matter experts on the committee. (The core faculty ran the process and the second core was a detatched reader of your work.) Anyway, this was early 1986. So, having read John's books for years by then, I wrote him and asked (shyly) if he would consider the role, or if he knew of someone who could serve on my committee. He wrote back, saying it was like being Miss America. Everyone assumes you're too busy, so no one asks you and you end up washing your hair on Saturday night. This was the beginning of what became a 40-year friendship.

 

John Bear was a giant in our world of education. May his legacy live on for many generations to come!

 

Terrible news.

John was a larger than life personality in the DL world, so it’s hard to imagine someone like that passing on.

I regret never meeting him in person, but he was always so friendly, kind, and helpful in our online and phone correspondence. I’ll always treasure the Millard Fillmore Institute diplomas he sent me for my twins right after they were born.

R.I.P. John, and my sincere condolences to Marina, his children, and extended family.

 

RIP - John Bear, 1938–2026

At one point I had all his guides and communicated with John about issues related to DL, Non traditional education.
His advise helped me in the 90s to avoid less than wonderful school and saved me some $$$$ and embarrassment.

 

I learned of John Bear in the 90's when the Dean of a bible college showed me a copy of one of his books. I will always keep my paper copies of his books and the scanned digital copies that I have. He will be missed.

 

Sympathy to all who knew him.

 

I went on eBay today to see how many copies of the Bear's Guides were available. I right away saw a low priced copy, in good shape, of the very first guide I had ever read. So, even though I have that copy, I got another. While the information on the different college programs will be out of date, the humor that John wove into the guide is eternal.

 

I would love to have a copy of that first guide. Do you have a picture of the cover or the name and date of printing? I want to get the right one!