Richard J. Deasy, a former Maryland assistant state schools superintendent who championed arts in education, died of complications from dementia Oct. 24 at Roland Park Place. The former Tuscany-Canterbury resident was 84.

Born in Pittsburgh, he was the son of John Deasy, a Federal Express manager, and his wife, Mary Carr. He joined the Roman Catholic order, the Christian Brothers and earned degrees with honors at LaSalle University before studying philosophy at Princeton University.

After leaving religious life, he became a reporter at the Daily Intelligencer in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, and was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize for his coverage of slum housing. He later joined the Philadelphia Daily News and reported on then-Mayor Frank Rizzo, city agencies and schools. He also trained in watercolor painting at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts.

His schools coverage attracted the attention of officials at the Pennsylvania Department of Education. He joined the agency and went on to create the Ethnic Heritage Study Center at the University of Pittsburgh. He also chaired the agency’s commission to protect the rights of gay people.

In 1977 he joined the Maryland State Department of Education and settled in Baltimore on University Parkway.

Former State School Superintendent David Hornbeck said, “Dick was a warm and caring friend, a fun storyteller, a man of significant intellect. The arts were at the center of his personal universe. He considered them an essential pathway to learning.”

In 1985 he became president and CEO of the National Council for International Visitors, and in 1995 he became the founding director of the National Arts Education Partnership.

“People were always their best selves around Dick Deasy; he lived a life of great originality and with an overwhelming belief in the promise of everyone else,” said longtime friend Stanley “Stan” Heuisler.

His agency was founded to increase arts programs in schools. Mr. Deasy co-authored Third Space: When Learning Matters, a study of the transformative effects of the arts in high-poverty schools.

Mr. Deasy later received the National Endowment for the Arts’ Chairman’s Medal for Distinguished Service.

“Arts for Learning Maryland was lucky to have Dick close by and as one of our most enthusiastic supporters,” said Stacie Sanders Evans, president of Arts for Learning Maryland. “His wise counsel will be felt in this organization and the classrooms we serve for years to come.”

Mr. Deasy owned a 1928 Sears and Roebuck summer home at Eagles Mere, Pennsylvania. He was a past president of the Eagles Mere Conservancy, a group that has purchased and preserved land, and was a board member of the Eagles Mere Historic Village, Inc.

Mr. Deasy was a patron of the Shriver Hall Concert Series, enjoyed chamber music, and read poetry.

Survivors include his wife of 53 years, Kathleen Clisham Deasy, a former Maryland Shock Trauma public affairs director; four stepchildren, Suzanne Lee, of Eagles Mere, Jory Tremblay, of Chevy Chase, Christopher Tremblay, of Parkton, and Timothy Tremblay, of Sarasota, Florida; and four grandchildren.