Evelyn Di Tosto, a retired Maryland Department of Education official who ran the state’s certification program for teachers, died of a stroke Jan. 23 at the J. W. Ruby Memorial Medical Center in Morgantown, W. Va. She was 86 and lived in North Baltimore.

Born in Richwood, W. Va., she was the daughter of Carlo Di Tosto, a tailor and his wife, Catherine Cerre. She received a bachelor’s degree at the University of Charleston and earned a master’s degree and doctorate at West Virginia University. She also studied at the University of Pittsburgh.