Obituaries : Vernon Cheadle; Former UC Santa Barbara Leader

Vernon I. Cheadle, who was chancellor of UC Santa Barbara during a major growth period from 1962 to 1977, has died. He was 85.

Cheadle, who had remained active in campus affairs, died Sunday at Cottage Hospital in Santa Barbara as the result of a stroke he suffered July 8.

During Cheadle’s tenure as chancellor, the Santa Barbara campus added 25 buildings, increased student enrollment from 4,800 to more than 13,000 and increased its master’s degree programs from 15 to 42 and its Ph.D. programs from two to 27.

“Vernon Cheadle was the transformative chancellor in the history of UC Santa Barbara,” said Clark Kerr, the former UC president who installed Cheadle as chancellor. “He began the process of achieving the fast-rising academic distinction which was nationally recognized recently by membership in the Assn. of American Universities.”

At the time of his death, Cheadle was on a committee planning activities to commemorate the Santa Barbara campus’ 50th anniversary.

A botanist, Cheadle had earned international recognition while at the University of Rhode Island and at UC Davis, where he was vice chancellor. He maintained a laboratory for his botanical research at Santa Barbara.

He emphasized small group meetings among Santa Barbara students and faculty and prided himself on keeping lines of communication open even when the campus was racked by days of violence and student unrest.

“This will pass,” he assured news reporters at that time, “just like the earthquake passed. If my optimism is reasonable, this campus will grow in academic stature.”

Cheadle, who was Santa Barbara’s second chancellor, and his wife, Mary, were named honorary alumni in 1990 for their “wise and caring leadership . . . as UCSB’s first family” and for their “support of programs they helped start or foster.”

In 1979, the campus administration building, which Cheadle once jokingly dubbed “the ugliest building on campus,” was named Cheadle Hall in his honor.

Cheadle was educated at Miami and Harvard universities.

A public memorial service at UC Santa Barbara will be scheduled at a later date.

The family has asked that any memorial donations be made to the Vernon Cheadle Memorial Fund at UC Santa Barbara.