Robert J. Wert; Former Mills College Head
Robert J. Wert, a nationally recognized advocate of liberal education who used his tenure as president of Mills College to elaborate on those beliefs at the all-women’s college, died Tuesday.
Vickie Bates, a spokeswoman for the Oakland campus, said Wert was 69 when he died in a Marin hospital of heart problems.
Wert came to Mills in 1967 from Stanford University, his alma mater. At a time when many women’s colleges were becoming coeducational, Wert wanted the school to maintain its present path “to discover a new distinctive role in American higher education.”
He retired in 1976.
Survivors include his wife, Ann, two sons, a daughter and five grandchildren.
Start your day right
Sign up for Essential California for news, features and recommendations from the L.A. Times and beyond in your inbox six days a week.
You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times.
