Disgraced former teacher at elite Cambridge school commits suicide

By Danny Mcdonald
BostGlobe
May 06, 2018

https://goo.gl/rJW5Qu

A former teacher fired from an elite Cambridge school over sexual abuse allegations in the 1980s committed suicide last month, according to his death certificate.

Edward “Ted” Washburn, who pleaded guilty to raping his 13-year-old nephew in 1987 and received a suspended sentence, killed himself on April 6, according to the certificate.

Washburn, 75, of Lexington, had taught at Buckingham Browne & Nichols, a day school that serves prekindergarten through 12th grade in Cambridge.

The 1987 rape case was the biggest scandal in the history of that institution, which was established in 1974 with the merger of two schools that were founded in the 19th century.

The school also received multiple complaints about sexual abuse of students by Washburn, and, in 2008, the school issued an apology to alumni and the school’s community for mishandling the complaints.

Buckingham Browne & Nichols, through a spokesman, last week declined to comment on Washburn’s death.

Daniel Weinreb, a former student at the school, has said that he testified at Washburn’s trial that the teacher asked him to perform a sexual act while he watched when Weinreb was 13 years old, a year after he was Washburn’s student.

Washburn, who held two degrees from Harvard and was the son of the late Bradford Washburn, an preeminent explorer who transformed Boston’s Museum of Science, taught English at the school for 23 years before he was fired in February 1987. The school received an anonymous tip that Washburn had been sexually abusing several boys between the ages of 12 and 14 and he was fired the next day.

Washburn also served as a crew coach at Harvard for more than two decades and was dismissed from that position after he was indicted on abuse charges in 1987.

Weinreb, in an e-mail Thursday night, said Washburn’s death did not bring closure “as he didn’t cause the trauma alone.”

“The trauma will persist until Harvard University — Washburn’s employer — acknowledges and compensates for Washburn grooming us — his victims — at Harvard crew events and overseas competitions,” said Weinreb.

Weinreb said, unlike Harvard, Buckingham Browne & Nichols has offered “honesty and compassion, providing compensation for survivors to get therapy.”

Harvard declined to comment for this story.

Mitchell Garabedian, an attorney who represented Weinreb, said in a phone interview Thursday night that Washburn’s “sexual abuse of children has caused everlasting pain.”

“For some victims, death by suicide will bring a degree of closure, but most victims will feel cheated because they were not able to confront Mr. Washburn face-to-face and because Mr. Washburn did not serve any actual jail time,” he said.

Washburn’s death certificate listed his occupation as a director of a recording studio.