Don Phillips, a former Palo Alto Unified School District superintendent, died Friday morning after suffering a heart attack on Thursday.

Phillips served as superintendent from 1997 until August 2001, when he left to become superintendent of the Poway Unified School District in Southern California. He retired in June of this year.

Assistant. Supt. Scott Bowers said Phillips’s death came as a shock to the PAUSD community.

“This was quite a surprise, because he was always very active,” Bowers said. “Anybody who knows Don [Phillips] knew that he loved to play tennis.”

As the Poway superintendent, Phillips recruited a new associate superintendent, current PAUSD Supt. Kevin Skelly, from Skelly’s position as principal of Saratoga High School. Phillips formed a close relationship with Skelly and later helped facilitate Skelly’s move to his current post.

According to Bowers, Skelly flew to San Diego on Thursday night when he heard that Phillips was admitted to the hospital in serious condition after a heart attack.

Skelly commemorated the June retirement of Phillips with a comedic video recalling memorable moments in Phillips’s career as superintendent. The video is shown below.

More information to come.