Alexander J. Alexanian, the Reading public school system’s first special education director, brought a heartfelt perspective to the position.

The son of Armenian immigrants, he recalled years later to friends and family that he sometimes felt like an “outsider’’ at Revere High School, struggling with his grades and feeling more comfortable on the athletic field than in the classroom.

An avid reader of US history whose idol was Abraham Lincoln, Dr. Alexanian persevered. He passed an entrance exam to the University of New Hampshire and devoted his life to equal educational opportunity and public service.

“Alex had total tolerance for individuals of all backgrounds and disabilities and an openness and willingness to take educational risks,’’ said Ted Zalewski, Dr. Alexanian’s colleague at Dearborn Academy in Cambridge in the early 1970s. ��?��?He was a champion for those he perceived as outsiders and he motivated others to work in harmony to solve human problems.’’

Dr. Alexanian, who retired in 1995 as director of pupil services and special education in Reading, died July 19 of complications relating to chronic pulmonary disease at the Chelsea Jewish Nursing Home. A Winthrop resident for more than 50 years and former member of the town’s School Committee and library board of trustees, Dr. Alexanian was 81.

He was hired in Reading in 1974, the year of the implementation of the state’s special education law, Chapter 766, that mandated testing and services by public schools for students with learning disabilities.

“The key word for Alex was ��?inclusion.’ He had a very moral approach to the well-being of young people and advocated for them,’’ recalled Jack Delaney, retired principal at the Parker Middle School in Reading. ��?��?Alex had a clear vision for what he wanted, he was patient, yet persistent, and he changed the traditional guidance office into a far more clinical setting, making sure they were staffed with certified school psychologists.’’

His work was so respected that after retirement Dr. Alexanian served as a temporary special education director when several school districts, including Hamilton-Wenham’s, had unexpected vacancies.

Dr. Alexanian was born in Revere, the son of Alexander and Elizabeth Alexanian. He recalled working — he called it “hustling’’ — at the Revere Beach amusement park, operating games of chance while saying “stick and stay, make it pay,” to patrons.

Dr. Alexanian was a lineman on the Revere High football team and a varsity track athlete, graduating in 1953.

His college football career ended when he injured his knee as a sophomore and he graduated from UNH in 1958 with a degree in business administration. He received a master’s degree in speech pathology in 1960 from Boston University.

Dr. Alexanian was subsequently appointed to the faculty at BU’s School of Education and earned his doctorate in special education at BU in 1967.

His doctoral dissertation focused on the ��?��?adverse social attitudes by the majority of non-handicapped society’’ toward the ��?��?blind, cerebral palsied and stutterer populations,’’ and he described their diminished status as ��?��?similar to racial and ethnic minorities.’’

Dr. Alexanian’s son, Michael, said his father told him that when his fraternity at UNH would not accept a black student, he objected and left it.

Dr. Alexanian met Sandra Cochrane when she worked in the Head Start Program at Boston University with Dr. Alexanian’s academic adviser, Frank Garfunkel, then an associate professor at the School of Education.

The couple married in 1966. Sandra Alexanian, who died in 1988, lectured on child development at Tufts University. She was a founder of the Winthrop Play Cooperative, a preschool program run by parents.

“Alex and Sandy built a family of friends and we often convened at their home and at their campsite in Maine,’’ said Winthrop Play Cooperative cofounder Judy O’Hare, who taught in Winchester with Mrs. Alexanian.

��?��?Christmas Eve was their favorite holiday to share with friends and they gave presents of socks to the kids and candles to the adults, both from Bob’s Discount House.’’

For many years, on weekends, Dr. Alexanian helped defray his children’s college expenses and supplement his income working at Bob’s Discount House, first on Revere Beach and then on Squire Road. He was a friend of its late owner, Robert Shayeb, whose father owned the Cyclone roller coaster at the amusement park.

“You could talk to Alex about anything because he was so down to earth,’’ said Bob’s employee Eileen Welch. ��?��?He enjoyed life and people.’’

From 1967-69, Dr. Alexanian worked for the Massachusetts Department of Mental Health and then directed Dearborn Academy, a center for children with learning and emotional problems formerly affiliated with Lesley University.

“I remember that when the kids arrived in a cab we would shake their hand and walk them to the playground,’’ said Zalewski, who often took trips with Dr. Alexanian to historic venues associated with Lincoln and to gatherings of the Association of Lincoln Presenters.

Dr. Alexanian also remained close to Garfunkel and his wife, Aura, an author from Winthrop.

“Alex was a great listener and devoted friend who enjoyed learning and said a goal was to read a book about every US president,’’ said Aura Garfunkel. Her late husband, whose accident during a squash match left him a quadriplegic the last six years of his life, was frequently visited by Dr. Alexanian.

Dr. Alexanian served on the Winthrop School Committee in the 1970s and 1990s and was elected a library trustee in 2011. He shared his extensive book collection with neighbors and donated many to the Winthrop library.

“For a man with such credentials he was very humble and he was a mentor,’’ said former School Committee member Mary Lou Osborne. “If I wrote a letter to the editor and wanted to make sure I got my point across, I would ask Alex’s opinion.’’

A service has been held.

In addition to his son, who resides in Kingston, Dr. Alexanian leaves his daughter, Kristen Messias of Winthrop; his sister, Helen Smith of Charleston, W.Va., and five grandchildren.

Dr. Alexanian enjoyed card games, a day at the races, and, by contrast, the serenity of ocean sailing.

��?��?He embraced the outdoors and his own roots,’’ his son said, ��?��?and he told me that you’ve got to hustle to earn your keep.’’

Once, Dr. Alexanian bought an old boat and, along with his wife and O’Hare, attached the fiberglass in his mother’s back yard in Revere and sewed the sail at the Alexanians’ apartment in Winthrop.

��?��?Alex loved to play as much as he loved to work,’’ O’Hare said, “and he always shared.’’

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