Actor-turned-teacher helped students learn about the world

Richard Worthington Sollenberger appeared in 15 movies and television episodes, mostly playing supporting characters in action thrillers and dramas.

However, his real legacy, many say, remains in the classroom, where he left a lasting impression on his students.

Mr. Sollenberger died on Thursday. The former Sycamore resident, most recently of Stamford, Conn., was 67.

Mr. Sollenberger was an administrator at both Elgin Academy and St. Edward High School in Elgin, but the majority of his teaching career was at the Chicago Academy for the Arts. He was one of the academy's original faculty members when the school opened in 1981. He went on to become dean.

While most of the academy's students dreamed of becoming actors, singers and dancers, Mr. Sollenberger had the job of bringing them back down to earth, in such academic courses as biology, algebra and trigonometry.

His former students filled nearly three pages of condolences in an online guest book with fond memories of how his sometimes gruff exterior masked the soft, approachable teacher he was. He made school a more enjoyable place, his former students said.

"I think of AP biology, a class that turned out to have less to do with life science and a lot more to do with life, for the four second semester seniors he corralled into taking it," one wrote. "Oh, the long, digressive conversations we'd have."

Another former student wrote: "We fondly named our biology class 'Rock and Roll Biology' and though he outwardly scoffed when we constantly wrote it on the chalkboard before class, I knew that inwardly he was smiling."

Few current faculty members at the school worked with Mr. Sollenberger, but they know his reputation.

"His students called him Solly and he was loved and admired by all who knew him," said Pamela Jordan, Chicago Academy for the Arts head of school. "He had an impact on the lives of hundreds of teenagers. He will be missed."

Barb Natividad of Chicago graduated from the academy in 1987, but her run-ins with Mr. Sollenberger remain vivid, she said.

"He spent an awful lot of time chasing me from the stairwells into the classes I was supposed to be in," Natividad said. "Outwardly, he was stern, but he was completely approachable."

More recently, Mr. Sollenberger served from 1995 to 1998 as head of the upper school, or high school at Elgin Academy, before he accepted the role of principal at St. Edward Central Catholic High School in Elgin.

John Cooper, head of school at Elgin Academy, said that although Mr. Sollenberger served only for a short time at the school, his imprint is a lasting one among his former students and faculty members.

"He had a big, booming voice and this larger than life personality," Cooper said. "Even in his brief stay here, he made a big impression."

Mr. Sollenberger acted in movies from 1981 to 1993, appearing in such films as "Ferris Bueller's Day Off," "The Naked Face" and "Mad Dog and Glory." He had several TV roles, too, including a 1996 guest appearance on "Early Edition."

Mr. Sollenberger is survived by his children Talbot, Gillian, Kenton, Alec and Meghan, and four grandchildren.