ORANGE COUNTY PERSPECTIVE : Growing Up Side by Side

When he retired in 1984 after 22 years as chancellor of UC Irvine, Daniel G. Aldrich Jr. left a bustling university that boasted many respected programs, from an innovative School of Criticism and Theory to a medical school. Among its notable scholars were F. Sherwood Rowland, Frederick Reines and James McGaugh, pioneering researchers into the ozone layer, the existence of neutrinos and human memory, respectively. A former soils chemist, who died Monday of cancer at 71, Aldrich was the academic architect of the Irvine campus, taking the helm in the early 1960s when the campus was nothing more than an expanse of hills.

His tenure lasted far longer than any other chancellor’s in the UC system, and twice he was called back after retirement--once to be acting chancellor at UC Riverside and later to the same post at UC Santa Barbara after its chancellor became embroiled in a financial scandal. No wonder Aldrich was affectionately described by UC President David P. Gardner as the university’s “utility chancellor.”

Known as “Chancellor Dan” on campus, he successfully steered the fledgling institution through its early days and the turbulent 1960s. He believed in hiring good people and then letting them do the job. He was at heart a New England farm boy who, despite his important educational positions, retained a sense of humor and that winning down-to-earth touch.

In many ways, Orange County and UC Irvine grew up together. Without Aldrich, there still would have been a new university in one of the fastest-growing areas of the state. But Aldrich was the right choice for the time and task, and because of his work, all of Southern California is better equipped to study, understand and solve the urban problems of its future.