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Camden New Journal - by DAN CARRIER
Published: 10 May 2007

Brown aid’s teacher tribute

SARAH Brown, the wife of Chancellor of Exchequer and Prime Minister-in-waiting Gordon Brown, has spoken of the immense influence Acland Burghley art teacher Joe Kusner played in her life.
Mr Kusner, 70, died at the weekend. He had been struck by a car on Highgate Road two Christmases ago. He was rushed to the Royal Free Hospital but lost consciousness and was in a coma due to his injuries for 17 months.
Mrs Brown, who was at the Tufnell Park school between 1975 and 1980, said: “Joe Kusner was an inspirational teacher whose art room formed the heart of the school. He encouraged all his pupils to believe in their own abilities and got amazing results.
“Even now, many years after his retirement, his influence lives on in the school. My thoughts are with his family: Paula, Anna and Alison, who will miss him greatly, but can take comfort that he is so fondly remembered by many former students.”
Former chairwoman of governors Pat Cattell, who wrote the citation which led to Joe being awarded an MBE, said she would miss him as both a friend and an inspiring person to have seen at work.
She said: “The visual arts at Acland Burghley are without parallel in a London comprehensive as a result of the lifetimes work of Joe Kusner.”
Current chair of governors Adam Leys added: “He was such an inspirational teacher.”
Joe’s tenure was marked by remarkable exam results. One mid-90s’ sixth form won the unheard of result of grade As for every pupil who entered art A-level, a unique achievement.
When Joe suffered a stroke, a former pupil heard he was at the Royal Free Hospital, and came to play the flute for him. She remembered how much he liked music.

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