Stan Cardinet (1938-2024)
A Rememberance by Dale Rose, Maybeck Alum and Former Board President
It is with great sadness and deep gratitude that I share the passing of Stanley Cardinet on the morning of August 14th, 2024. He transitioned to his next class (whether as a teacher or a student, we’ll never know) peacefully at home with his wife of 40 years, Alison, by his side.
I am profoundly grateful for what Stan accomplished in his life. In true Maybeck High School tradition, he left the campsite he inhabited in far better condition than he found it.
While his Opus in life was Maybeck High School, Stan was a creative soul to the very core. Stan painted well over 1,000 oil paintings, most of them windows into a world of his own making littered with sunflowers, gardens, mountains, and waterfalls. While he sold many paintings, anyone who ever visited his house knows the best ones he kept for himself to enjoy. He was a thinker of the highest order—a lifetime subscriber and voracious reader of the New York Review of Books until just a few months before he died. Stan’s preferred academic discipline was History, which he understood to be both factual and subjective—for decades, his final assignment in World History asked students to answer the question of how, if at all, history was changed by the observer. He devoured music of all kinds. In fact, in the 1980s, he made a habit of buying one LP per week based solely on the cover of the album as a way of finding new gems. This is how he discovered the Dead Kennedys. But, of course, he was deeply committed to only one composer: Gustav Mahler.
As a true historian, Stan authored thirteen mostly autobiographical books. His Memoir was written in two volumes: One Life at a Time: The Early Years and The Academic Years: Teaching Days (1965 to 2012). Both documents are well-researched using original source material, including his extensive journaling, which was a daily habit until weeks before he died because he could no longer get to his computer. When given some editorial feedback about the second of these volumes, Stan showed his true roots as a historian. It was pointed out that some of his teaching methods from the 1970s may not be well appreciated in the modern classroom. He forcefully stated, “That is just weak thinking. Today’s values cannot be used as a lens through which to understand historical events.” As obstinate as he was on this point (anyone who knew him remembers his ability to stand on a position…well into the night, if necessary), he was also wise enough to take the feedback to heart.
While his early years were spent between L.A. and Oakland, he was exposed to the challenges of running a business as his family ran the Cardinet Candy stores in the Bay Area. Undoubtedly, he learned a lot about persistence and grit watching the grandfather he admired so much oversee the candy factory and retail operations. During his 24 years as School Director at Maybeck, he surely had an opportunity to apply some of the many lessons he learned from the Cardinet Candy Company about what it takes to make a successful business run.
Few will know Stan as a Veteran of the U.S. Army. Indeed, in the time between attending college at Saint Mary’s and The Teaching Years, Stan spent two years (1961 to 1963) in an Artillery battalion stationed in Oklahoma. At the end of his “tour,” he was offered a very cushy job working as an Executive Assistant for a Colonel who had quickly recognized Stan’s organizational ability and his aptitude with words. Thankfully for the world, he wisely declined. Perhaps he recognized that the rebelliousness he’d exhibited as a soldier, and always successfully hidden from leadership, would eventually catch up with him. His last day of service was the first day of the Bay of Pigs crisis.
Like many artists, Stan was a rebel and an idealist, with a massive dose of integrity mixed in. A yearbook headshot from his teaching years shows him photobombing one of the other teachers (his friend, Paul August) in 1972. Could it be coincidence that this was his last year of teaching at St. Elizabeth’s? Indeed, Maybeck High School was largely founded out of Stan’s willingness to contradict the local Archbishop on the idea that poor kids in Oakland deserved a full education, complete with an accounting of “what was really going on” outside of the classroom walls (this was the era of Nixon, Vietnam, and the Labor Movement). Of course, he was also incredibly charming and inspirational in expressing his ideals, which undoubtedly contributed to four other teachers agreeing to join him in his rebellion. Stan’s immense drive, idealism, and integrity allowed him to believe he and this merry crew could start a school. And so, they did. 52 years later, nearly 2,000 graduates have a story about how Maybeck made a difference for us.
I was lucky to become close to Stan later in his life: After he had stopped working at Maybeck. He entrusted me with his baby when he asked me to step into his shoes as board chair. And for 20 years in that capacity, I met with him regularly at his house to talk about the school, educational philosophy, politics, painting, and whatever else he had on his “list” to discuss. He never stopped thinking about Maybeck, even into his very last days. Indeed, when I brought the current Director of the school to meet Stan a few weeks ago, even bedridden and sleeping most of the time, he was prepared with a list! He wanted her to know how important exploring nature was to education, and he was concerned that History continued to be taught in a way that related the Big Events of the past with the current day. When Beth asked him what he wanted to see the school hold onto as its core mission, he was right on point and forcefully asserted: “Academic rigor! Integrity! And no bull--!” That was pure Stan.
I’d like to share a note I gave to Stan the last time we were able to have our meeting of the minds with him sitting up. He read it with curiosity and wonder and then thanked me for sharing it. He seemed to have a clear sense of satisfaction that he had been seen and that he had, in fact, left the world a better place than he found it.
Stan:
Thank you for your teachings, your friendship, your writings, your art, and your wisdom. You have made a huge difference in my life, and I am so grateful. You squeezed a LOT more out of this life than most people get in half of theirs. I hope you look back on it with pride and satisfaction.
Important ideas from Stan that I bring forward into the world:
Focus on staff and students more than parents
Challenge students…they can do more than they think possible
Embrace the “show/entertainment” part of teaching
Rebels make great teachers…but look out for the quacks!
Take meaningful time away from work to recharge
Paint as often as possible…stick with it
Integrity is non-negotiable
A good name makes a difference (“Maybeck” vs. “Sunshine School”)
Actively read, think, discuss, and disagree vocally with people you love
Appreciate people who have skills you do not (e.g., Jim Kelly, Maryann, Charlie)
If you find yourself in the army, don’t re-up…even if the prospects seem good
If necessary, take risks to pursue your passions
Your Friend,
Dale Rose
Please share your memories of Stan here, and consider donating to the Stanley Cardinet Memorial Fund to honor Stan's life and legacy at Maybeck.