Former University of Illinois system president dies at age 90

Stanley O. Ikenberry, the former president of the University of Illinois System, died this month at the age of 90.

What we know:

Ikenberry served as president from 1979 until his resignation in 1995 and later returned to the position in 2010 in an interim capacity for a few months. 

He was the youngest president in the university’s history when he began at the age of 44.

He died on April 1 in Boca Grande, Florida, according to a news release.

Stanley O. Ikenberry

The backstory:

Under Ikenberry’s leadership, federal funding for research, private gifts, grants, and contracts significantly increased, and he helped raise more than $1.35 billion for two major capital campaigns.

The University of Illinois at Chicago grew into the largest research university in the metropolitan area after consolidating the school’s Medical Center and Chicago Circle campuses during Ikenberry’s tenure.

The Urbana campus also saw significant developments like the Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology, the Grainger Engineering Library Information Center and the National Center for Supercomputing Applications.

He also held positions in the College of Education at the Urbana campus and the U of I System’s Institute of Government and Public Affairs.

In 2008, he was honored for his contributions by the designation of the Urbana campus dining and residence halls as the Stanley O. Ikenberry Commons.

Born in Lamar, Colorado, he earned a bachelor's degree from Shepherd College in West Virginia, and went on to earn a master’s degree and doctoral degree from Michigan State University.

What they're saying:

Current U of I System President Tim Killeen praised Ikenberry’s legacy in a statement.

"President Ikenberry was a trailblazer as a University of Illinois president and led through a period of robust growth and the development of so much of what that we know now as the modern U of I System," Killeen said. "He was also a man of unquestioned character and deep loyalty, both of which he demonstrated when he returned as interim president, and a patient and wise mentor to me when I joined the system."