Obituaries : Roger W. Heyns; Chancellor of UC Berkeley in Turbulent 1960s

Roger W. Heyns, former UC Berkeley chancellor who presided over the campus during the turbulent 1960s, has died during a vacation tour of Mediterranean countries. He was 77.

Heyns died Tuesday in Volos, Greece, of heart failure, Berkeley officials said Wednesday.

Most recently, Heyns had served as president of the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation in Palo Alto. He retired two years ago.

During his tenure as Berkeley chancellor from 1965 to 1971, Heyns faced student dissent and anti-war protests but closed the campus only once--at the order of then-governor Ronald Reagan. During one protest in 1965, Heyns ordered anti-war signs removed from the campus because they violated rules on size and location. But instead of calling on police to pull down the signs, he employed janitors, a tactic that stymied student resistance.

“He came like a gift of heaven to leadership of the Berkeley campus,” said former UC President Clark Kerr. “He was an ambassador of goodwill when so many others were expressing ill will.”

The educator grew up in Holland, Mich., and attended Calvin College, where he became president of the 500-student body. After service in the Army Air Force during World War II, he earned graduate degrees in psychology at the University of Michigan.

During his teaching years at Michigan, Heyns wrote “The Psychology of Personal Adjustment” and co-authored “An Anatomy for Conformity.”

He returned to teaching at Michigan after leaving UC in 1971 and went on to head the American Council on Education. He became president of the Hewlett Foundation in 1977.

Heyns served as a director of Times Mirror Co., which publishes The Times, from 1977 to 1988, working with its late chairman Franklin D. Murphy, who was chancellor of UCLA during Heyns’ tenure at Berkeley.

Survivors include Heyns’ wife, Esther; three sons, Michael, John and Daniel; a sister, Jacqueline Rudeen, and seven grandchildren.

Funeral services will be in Holland, Mich. A California memorial service will be planned at a later date.