John A. Butler; Education Researcher for Handicapped

John A. Butler, 45, a leading researcher in the education of handicapped children and head of the Upper School at Harvard School in North Hollywood in 1986-87. An associate professor in the Department of Social Medicine and Health Policy at Harvard University at his death, Butler recently completed a decade-long study of how special education programs can best meet the requirements of their enabling federal legislation. Butler taught for Harvard University for 12 years before coming to California. At Harvard he had earned his doctorate and become assistant dean for academic affairs. He was staff director for the Congressional Select Panel for the Promotion of Child Health that produced the four-volume report, “Better Health for Our Children,” since adopted as a federal guideline. In Boston on Friday of pancreatic cancer.