JT Gatto was the keynote speaker at the first home school convention we attended in Florida (May, 1992). Unfortunately, he had barely gotten into his speech when he became ill and had to get medical treatment. We bought his book, Dumbing Us Down, and it was quite the eye opener! We were very happy we had decided to give homeschooling a try. I guess that was the year he published that book.
I encourage people to read his writings. You may not agree with what he has to say, but he certainly makes you think.
I'm sad to hear that he has passed.
I can’t find anything online that says he has died, however. He had a couple of strokes in 2011, but it looks like he was still lecturing in 2012???