Barry Tevelow, a local advocate for education who ran for the county school board in 2002, died of unknown causes at Howard County General Hospital on March 10. He was 49.

Tevelow was born in Washington, D.C., and raised in Rockville.

He graduated from Peary High School in 1976 and earned a bachelor's degree in computer science from the University of Maryland in 1980.

He and his wife, the former Carla Perlberg, were married in 1985 and moved to Columbia the next year. He became involved in the school system when his oldest son, Keith, entered middle school, his wife said.

Tevelow became fascinated with the workings of the education world, she said.

"He thought that's where your basic knowledge starts," she said. "As you grow up to become whatever you become, your education is the basic knowledge you have. He really liked the process of education."

Allen Dyer, a lawyer and current school board candidate, said he was "quite close" to Tevelow.

"He was always someone I would go to when I needed advice, when I had a question that had anything to deal with the community," said Dyer, an Ellicott City resident.

The two met at a high school lacrosse game, Dyer said. At the time, Tevelow was publishing High School Views, a community-based publication that featured student-generated content.

"It was a great service to the community," Dyer said.

In 2000, Dyer called on Tevelow for advice when running for the school board, an election that Dyer eventually lost.

"He was more than a voice of reason," Dyer said. "We always had a pleasant exchange when we talked."

Tevelow was known for his vigorous involvement in county school system matters.

"He was making sure that the system was open and transparent, and that things were not done in private," his wife said. "He knew that the parents were a major part of the system."

In 2000, Tevelow was arrested on a charge of trespassing on school grounds after supporting students staging a "sit-down" at the gym in protest of the dismissal of Kristine Lockwood, a popular Glenwood Middle School teacher. Charges were eventually dropped and the case was later expunged, Carla Tevelow said.

"Sometimes you need to stand up even if other people think it is wrong," she said.

Dyer said Tevelow remained active in community-based discussions through the Internet even after his youngest child graduated from Glenelg High.

"He was a prolific contributor to the message boards," said Dyer, who is in the process of compiling the 889 messages Tevelow submitted as a gift to Carla Tevelow.

"He was a resource," Dyer said. "He was someone to talk to. He was a peacemaker."

In his free time, Tevelow enjoyed playing bridge, tennis and basketball, his wife said. He loved philosophy and gardening.

"He just knew how to get enjoyment out of what he did," she said.

Tevelow had recently been splitting his time between his home in Dayton and Wilmington, N.C., so that he could be closer to his two children who attend college in that area. He had been working to develop a self-sustaining farm on a piece of land he owned in North Carolina, his wife said.

Services were held this month.

In addition to his wife, Tevelow is survived by a son, Keith, who attends East Carolina University in Greenville, N.C., and a daughter, Lauren, who attends the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill; his mother, Shirley Tevelow of Rockville; a sister, Renee Tevelow of Rockville; and two brothers, Mark Tevelow of Silver Spring and Mickey Tevelow of New Windsor.

john-john.williams@baltsun.com