David was an electrical engineer who studied at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology including doctoral course work after earning a Masters of Science degree in Electrical Engineering in 1969. He spent his entire career at Teradyne Inc., a leading supplier of automation equipment used to test data storage, semiconductors, wireless products and complex electronic systems for consumer, industrial, and government applications. David was a patent holder who viewed his work as a creative endeavor in the design and development of computer-related processes and systems. David was supposed to be a doctor – most men in his family were. But during his senior year at Yale, he changed his mind and after graduation went home to think about his future. Six months later he began studying electrical engineering as a student at MIT in Cambridge, Massachusetts. David was an insightful, penetrating, independent thinker. At Teradyne, the CEO remarked that he had never met anyone who could analyze and examine an issue from so many directions. David simply enjoyed thinking, whether it was thinking about how to solve family issues, pondering the vagaries of string theory, or discussing the five color theorem with his mathematician friend. No one could explain as simply and clearly as David any scientific question, whether it was why the seasons change or some AP physics or chemistry problem. David read and thought a lot about how American children are being educated, or as he believed miseducated, in science and engineering. He believed education had to change for the 21st century and he also believed that students today need to learn to code, compute, discover and create. 

In keeping with the spirit of David’s legacy, his wife, Rose-Jane Sulman, is embarking on a unique education initiative for the benefit of Jewish Day Schools and other K-8 students and teachers. Over the next five years the David Lear Sulman (DLS) initiative will develop and implement a comprehensive computer science, physical science and engineering education program in participating schools. The proposed plan will facilitate the development of new instructional materials together with the professional development of teachers to enable the implementation of a project-based learning model facilitated by a Maker Lab. A major goal of this initiative is to better prepare students, especially Jewish students, to meet the challenges and opportunities of the future so that they too can become contributing members of our 21st century technological society.  In many ways David and Rose Jane were two sides of the same coin. While Rose Jane loved everything in the humanities – poetry, language, art – David was an engineer who loved everything analytical, scientific and logical. What they did both share was an interest in education. While Rose Jane loves day schools, David believed education had to change for the 21st century. He also believed – and convinced Rose Jane – that today's students need to learn to code, compute, and engineer because understanding how to create with and use technology is the key to learning, jobs and power in the 21st century. Now you have heard the explanation of why, when David died, Rose Jane started this fund. Reinvigorating Jewish day schools and transforming education so that students are engaged in computing, robotics, coding, and engineering is a dream and goal they both would share. If Jewish day schools excel in this area, if they offer the best education available, our children will come to our schools and become the leaders of the future.