For Immediate Release:
February 3, 2026
Primary Media Contact:
Sally Voth
Public Relations Specialist
[email protected]
Phone: 540-868-7134
It is with great sadness that we share the news that Laurel Ridge Community College Professor Emeritus Frank Borleske passed away on Saturday, Jan. 31, in Delaware, with his family by his side. A private graveside service for immediate family will be held next week, and a celebration of life will be held at Laurel Ridge this spring.
For more than half a century, Professor Borleske was a constant, steady light in the life of the college. When Laurel Ridge first opened its doors in 1970, Frank was there. And for the next 55 years, he devoted his mind, his heart, and his extraordinary gift for teaching to generations of students who arrived uncertain and left transformed.
Frank’s journey toward the college began long before the first class ever met. As he fondly recalled, he once sat around the kitchen table with his parents, explaining that he wanted to teach at a community college. It was not just a career goal – it was a calling. After graduating from Glenelg High School, he earned his bachelor’s degree in mathematics from the College of William and Mary, followed by a master’s degree in mathematics from Columbia University. He taught high school math for a year, but when he joined the very first cohort of faculty members at the college, he said he was “really thrilled” – a feeling that never faded.
Frank embraced Laurel Ridge’s mission and flexibility, reveling in the freedom to experiment with teaching methods and meet students where they were. His joy in his work was unmistakable, and it was returned tenfold by the thousands of students whose lives he enriched. One of them, John Updike – now a fellow retired professor whom Frank once mentored – said Frank restored his confidence in mathematics and demonstrated that great teaching requires flexibility, creativity, and deep care for every learner. Professor Updike carried those lessons into his own career, always citing Frank as a model of what a teacher should be.
Another former student, Sam Snarr, the 2018 Middletown Campus Outstanding Graduate, called Frank “truly amazing.” He marveled at Frank’s lifelong devotion to the college, his tireless willingness to tutor students one on one, and his rare ability to make difficult material engaging and meaningful. “To Professor Borleske,” Snarr said, “succeeding is not just passing a class, or getting a good grade – it’s learning something you can carry with you.”
The numbers themselves tell a powerful story of Frank’s impact:
- 55 years of teaching
- 34 courses taught
- 7,455 individual students
- 10,286 total enrollments, including nearly 3,000 repeat students who returned for another class with him
How many careers give someone the opportunity to positively shape nearly 7,500 lives? Frank did so with humility, warmth, and an ever-present smile.
Beyond the classroom, Frank was a pillar of the mathematics community in Virginia. He worked closely with adjunct and dual-enrollment faculty during major Virginia Community College System (VCCS) curriculum changes, served on the statewide Multiple Measures Math Placement Committee, and played key roles in the Virginia Mathematical Association of Two-Year Colleges (VMATYC), including serving as the organization’s historian and conference coordinator. His peers recognized his excellence with numerous awards, including the 2010 Distinguished Faculty Award and the designation of Professor Emeritus in 2023. In 2022, Frank was honored with the Laurel Ridge Community College Medallion of Recognition, the highest non-academic award bestowed by the college.
Frank often reflected on the early days of the college with a sense of wonder. He remembered attending an orientation at Hotel Roanoke with other new VCCS faculty members, feeling immediately connected to a mission larger than himself. He recalled the college’s dedication ceremony on Oct. 17, 1970, a clear, beautiful day when Gov. Mills Godwin spoke about how a community college would change lives in this region. Frank believed deeply in that vision and spent the next five decades bringing it to life.
Those who worked with him will always remember his kindness, his patience, and his unwavering dedication. If you looked for Frank and couldn’t find him in his office, he left a note on his door telling students exactly which classroom he was in – because for him, being available to help was simply part of who he was. Even in retirement, Frank continued teaching as an adjunct faculty member. His commitment to Laurel Ridge was lifelong. In recognition of his extraordinary service, the Laurel Ridge Foundation established the Frank Borleske Scholarship in May 2022 to support students in need. Seeded with a gift of $5,200 – symbolically honoring $100 for each year of his service – the scholarship will continue Frank’s legacy of opening doors for students, just as he did throughout his career.
In honor of Frank’s dedication to student success and a 55-year career teaching math at Laurel Ridge Community College, his family requests that memorial donations support the Frank Borleske Scholarship at the college.
Checks: Payable to Laurel Ridge Foundation, 173 Skirmisher Lane, Middletown, VA 22645
Credit card: laurelridge.edu/donatenow
Frank’s passing leaves a profound void. Yet his influence echoes in every math classroom, every inspired student, and every colleague who had the privilege of learning from him. Our community is better, stronger, and richer because Frank chose to spend his life in service to it.
To Professor Frank Borleske:
Thank you for 55 extraordinary years.
Thank you for the thousands of lives you changed.
And thank you for showing us, every day, what it means to be a teacher who can truly be counted on.
May his memory be a beacon, and may his legacy continue to shape Laurel Ridge for generations to come.
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Founded in 1970, Laurel Ridge Community College is a multi-campus public institution of higher education. With three locations — Middletown, Warrenton, and Luray-Page County — the College serves eight localities in the Shenandoah Valley and northern Piedmont regions. The localities are the counties of Clarke, Fauquier, Frederick, Page, Rappahannock, Shenandoah and Warren and the city of Winchester. Laurel Ridge offers more than 75 associate degree and certificate programs in a wide variety of disciplines, in addition to providing access to bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral degree programs offered on site by a four-year institution. Laurel Ridge also serves the business community by offering workforce preparation programs for employees and employers. Laurel Ridge serves more than 9,000 unduplicated credit students and more than 11,000 individuals in professional development and business and industry courses annually.
Laurel Ridge Community College is accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges (SACSCOC) to award associate degrees. Laurel Ridge Community College also may offer credentials such as certificates and diplomas at approved degree levels. Questions about the accreditation of Laurel Ridge Community College may be directed in writing to the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges at 1866 Southern Lane, Decatur, GA 30033-4097, by calling (404) 679-4500, or by using information available on SACSCOC’s website (www.sacscoc.org).
Laurel Ridge Community College is an equal opportunity institution providing educational and employment opportunities, programs, services, and activities. Laurel Ridge shall promote and maintain equal employment and educational opportunities without regard to race, color, religion, disability, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, ethnicity, marital status, pregnancy, childbirth or related medical conditions including lactation, age (except when age is a bona fide occupational qualification), status as a veteran, national origin, or other non-merit factors. Laurel Ridge also prohibits sexual misconduct including sexual violence or harassment. Inquiries may be directed to the Associate Vice President, Human Resources, [email protected], 173 Skirmisher Lane, Middletown, VA 22645, 540-868-7226.
Laurel Ridge Community College was known as Lord Fairfax Community College until June 2022. For consistency purposes, the college will be referenced as Laurel Ridge going forward.
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