Appleton Mason

Appleton Mason was a man dedicated to independent school education. Prior to his arrival at the Bell School, he taught at the Trinity School in New York City, Aiken Preparatory School in Aiken, South Carolina and Trinity School in New Canaan, Connecticut. He became Headmaster of the Bell School in 1955 and served in this role until he became the first Headmaster of the consolidated Lake Forest Country Day School in 1958, a position he held until 1967. Appleton Mason had a vision of what the newly formed Lake Forest Country Day School could become and mean to generations of students. His delicate handling of the merger of two rival schools resulted in an institution today that retains the strengths of the Bell School and Lake Forest Day School—providing an academically rigorous, yet individualized, program to students in age two through grade eight.

After leaving Lake Forest Country Day School, Appleton Mason became the first Executive Secretary of the New York State Association of Independent Schools and spent his last professional years as a head search consultant. He also founded The Heads Letter, a publication for Heads of School throughout the country. As a colleague said of Appleton Mason, “Some people are born to educate, and if there is anyone in our independent school history who embodies that happy circumstance it is surely Appleton Mason.”