JACKSON HEIGHTS — Longtime I.S. 145 principal Dr. Dolores Beckham, who died Wednesday of cancer, was remembered by students at a candlelight vigil this week.
Beckham was an educator in New York City for almost 40 years, according to the Department of Education. She had been the principal of the Joseph Pulitzer Middle School, at 33-34 80th St., since 1999.
"She will be dearly missed by the thousands of students, families and colleagues whose lives she touched," Chancellor Carmen Fariña said in a statement.
Students held a vigil to honor her outside the school on Thursday at 6 p.m., according to the PTA.
While at the helm of I.S 145, Beckham embraced the school's diversity — celebrating the various cultures and languages represented in her students.
Last December, the school was selected as one of 15 recognized as the Chancellor's Citywide Model Dual Language programs, which she called an "honor."
Beckham received her doctoral degree in education from St. John's University in 2005, where she was also an adjunct professor, according to her LinkedIn page. She also graduated from Queens College, Columbia University and the Bank Street College of Education.
She was a Fulbright Award-winning principal in 2008 and traveled around the world for conferences on education and leadership.
Before coming to IS 145, she taught at Bronx middle school, as a Teach for America instructor and worked as a teacher recruiter.
On her LinkedIn page, she wrote that she was "fascinated by creating a world of global appreciation, tolerance and understanding."
