Terence Tolbert's Harlem middle school now named after him

A middle school in Harlem is being renamed after Terence Tolbert, the beloved Department of Education official who died last week while working in Nevada for the Obama campaign, according to the New York Times’ City Room blog.

Mayor Bloomberg announced today at a packed funeral service held at IS 195 in Harlem that the school would now be known as the Terence D. Tolbert Education Complex in honor of the lobbying chief, City Room reports. Tolbert attended IS 195 before moving on to the Bronx High School of Science.

City Room says Chancellor Joel Klein was among the 1,000 people attending the funeral, and President-elect Barack Obama sent a letter to be read aloud. Tolbert died of a heart attack at age 44 just two days before the election, during which Obama won Nevada.