Lynn H. Stern, early childhood educator

Lynn H. Stern, founder of an early childhood center who also tutored students, died June 6 at Gilchrist Hospice in Towson from respiratory failure. She was 76.

The former Lynn Huberman was born and raised in Philadelphia. She was the daughter of Ralph Huberman, a jeweler, and Vivian Spiegelman, a homemaker.

After graduating in 1960 from Central High School, she enrolled at the University of North Carolina-Greensboro and received a bachelor’s degree in English in 1964.

She met her future husband, Ronald M. Shapiro, whowas also a Philadelphia native, when both their fathers were dying at Pennsylvania Hospital in downtown Philadelphia.

They married in 1963 and moved to Boston while her husband attended law school at Harvard. While her husband was at the law school she worked at Massachusetts General Hospital.

After her husband graduated, they moved to Mount Washington in 1967. They later divorced.

Ms. Stern was founder of Howard Park Co-Op, an early childhood center, and also did fundraising for what was then Villa Julie College, now Stevenson University.

She volunteered with Planned Parenthood, where she conducted health workshops for students.

Ms. Stern lived at the Blakehurst Retirement Community in Towson. She enjoyed doing calligraphy and playing tennis, gin rummy and backgammon. She was a fan of the music of Barbra Streisand and Bruce Springsteen.

She was a member of Beth Am Synagogue.

Ms. Stern liked vacationing in Longport, N.J., and Aventura, Fla, near Fort Lauderdale. Funeral services were private. Ms. Stern is survived by two sons, David Shapiro of Boston and Mark Shapiro of Toronto; two daughters, Julie Mangini of Cleveland and Laura Dulac of Brewster, Mass.; two sisters, Jane Glick of Ruxton and Abby Silverman of La Jolla, Calif.; three stepbrothers, Richard Manekin of Guilford, Robert Manekin of Owings Mills and Charles Manekin of Jerusalem; and 10 grandchildren. Her marriage to Barry Stern ended in divorce.