Titi Ngwenya Eliot School of Fine & Applied Arts Boston lost an old-style leader in manual arts on March 28 with the death of Charlie Sandler, who lived in Stoughton for more than 50 years. He was 88. A man with a “heart of gold,” Sandler stewarded the Eliot School of Fine & Applied Arts in Boston as a center for woodworking, sewing and other crafts through more than a half century, all while supporting vocational education in Boston’s public schools. The Eliot School of Fine & Applied Arts was an early leader in the spread of “Shop and Home Economics,” staples of 20th century American public education.Mr. Sandler was one of a series of educators who directed the nonprofit, remaining tied to the school for 55 years. Stopping by in early mornings to stoke the boiler, returning after dinner to teach woodworking to adults, and on Saturdays to teach kids, Sandler gathered his young children to mail out course catalogs from their kitchen table and recruited teachers from amongst his old union colleagues and old-style artisans in Boston’s neighborhoods.