Kent L'Roy Koppelman

Funeral services for Kent L’Roy Koppelman, 74, of La Crosse, WI, will be held on Friday, Sept. 9, 2022, at 12 noon at the Dickinson Family Funeral Home, 1425 Jackson Street, in La Crosse.

in La Crosse. For a complete obituary, online condolences and to view services by Live Stream, please visit www.dickinsonfuneralhomes.com Mr. Koppelman died of cancer on Tuesday, Aug. 30, 2022, at his home in La Crosse. His wife and daughter were by his side.

Kent was born to Roy and Lois (Pease) Koppelman in Osmond. He grew up in Winnetoon and graduated valedictorian at Creighton High School in 1966. Kent earned his B.A. and M.A. in English at the University of Nebraska in Lincoln, and his P.h.D. in Education/Curriculum at Iowa State University in Ames. Kent and Janet (Gross) married on New Year’s Eve in 1969. A son Jason and a daughter Tess completed their family. Early in his career Kent taught high school English in Nebraska, Connecticut, and Iowa. His doctoral degree led to a faculty position at the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse.

Eventually Kent served as department chair and co-dean in the UWL School of Education. He was especially known at UWL for his devotion to teaching about diversity and multicultural education. This expertise led to his textbook, “Understanding Human Differences,” which is used widely across the United States in an educational field he helped to define. Kent was also the author of several other books including works about grief which was precipitated by the death of his son in 1989. Kent was a devoted and loving husband, father, grandfather, brother, uncle and friend. He loved books, travel, theatre, politics and college football.

(Go Huskers!)

Kent is survived by his wife, Jan, daughter Tess (Nathan) Cameron and grandchildren Elliott and Wesley Cameron of Kansas City, KS; sisters Sally Sinclair of Coralville, IA, and Mona (Greg) Smith of Cold Spring, NY; several nieces, nephews, grandnieces and grandnephews.

He was preceded in death by his son, Jason David Koppelman; his parents, his sister Gay (John) Tanner and his brother-in-law Jeffrey Gross.

Memorials are suggested to La Crosse Community Foundation (Jason David Koppelman Fund), UW-La Crosse Foundation (School of Education), or local food pantries and social justice organizations of the donor's choice.

Visitation will begin at 11:30 a.m. at Dickinson Funeral Home on Friday. Kent will be interred next to his son at Oak Grove Cemetery