Memorial Service Will Be May 12 for Daniel Aldrich

A memorial service for former UC Irvine chancellor Daniel G. Aldrich Jr. will be held May 12, Chancellor Jack W. Peltason announced Tuesday.

Aldrich died Monday at UCI Medical Center of intestinal cancer. He was 71.

The service will be held on the Irvine campus in conjunction with the annual Lauds and Laurels ceremonies, which honors faculty, staff, students and the community. University of California President David P. Gardner and other dignitaries are expected to attend.

“We look forward to this opportunity to express our great affection for Dan and his family,” Peltason said. “We are resolved to carry on Dan’s legacy to us, to build on what he built.”

Aldrich, founding chancellor of the nearly 25-year-old institution, was the only person in the University of California system to have headed three university campuses. He is credited with helping to develop the Irvine campus into a highly respected institution of research and undergraduate education. He retired in 1984 after 22 years at the helm of UCI, but was tapped soon after to serve as interim chancellor at UC Riverside, and later at UC Santa Barbara.

Aldrich, who lived in Dana Point with his wife, Jean, had requested a private burial at sea in the presence of only his immediate family.

In lieu of flowers, his wife and their three children have requested that donations be made to one of the following three funds: the UCI Alumni Assn. Graduate Fellowship Fund; the Endowment for the Beautification of the UCI campus, or a fellowship fund at the Pacific School of Religion in Berkeley, Calif. All donations can be sent in care of the UCI Foundation, 600 Administration, University of California, Irvine, Calif. 92717.