Educator and businesswoman Kay MacPhee remembered as champion for the 'underdog'

Kay MacPhee, whose knowledge, passion and commitment to literacy helped numerous Islanders learn to read, has died.

She would have turned 80 in June. Her family said she died Friday after a brief illness with aggressive cancer.

MacPhee, whose son was born deaf, spent 25 years developing techniques enabling people who are deaf or partly deafto form language skills and learn how to read.

She was the developer of the SpellRead Program, co-founder of the SpellRead Company, and president and co-founder of Ooka Island Inc., a producer of educational material.

She will be inducted posthumously into the P.E.I. Business Hall of Fame on May 23.

'Believed that every child was smart'

Her granddaughter, Joelle MacPhee, said her grandmother always "cheered for the underdog."

"She really believed that every child was smart and that every student could learn and that everyone deserved the same opportunities and it showed through in her work and her life," she said.

"She was just an amazing woman."

MacPhee's funeral was held on Monday.

More P.E.I. news