Carol Tomlinson-Keasey, 66, founding chancellor of UC Merced, died Oct. 10 in Decatur, Ga., due to complications related to breast cancer, UC Merced announced.

Tomlinson-Keasey, a development psychologist, served as a vice provost and dean at UC Davis from 1992 to 1997. She was the last dean of the entire College of Letters and Science (1994-95), having spearheaded the college’s reorganization into three divisions, each with its own dean, one for Humanities, Arts and Cultural Studies; one for Math and Physical Sciences; and one for Social Sciences.

She served in two other roles at UC Davis, as vice provost for faculty relations from 1992 to 1994, and vice provost for academic planning and personnel from 1995 to 1997.

She moved to the UC Office of the President in 1997 as the university system’s first vice provost for academic initiatives. The next year, then-UC President Richard Atkinson named her to direct planning for UC Merced.

Tomlinson-Keasey maneuvered through numerous obstacles — budgetary, environmental and political — to turn the idea of UC Merced into reality. It opened in 2005, as the first new research university of the 21st century and the first UC in the San Joaquin Valley.

She served as chancellor through August 2006, when she stepped down to return to teaching and writing. She retired from the university in 2007.

UC Merced Chancellor Steve Kang, who succeeded Tomlinson-Keasey in March 2007, said: “Simply put, UC Merced would not exist were it not for her visionary leadership, her tireless determination and her remarkable gift of persuasion. The campus, the UC system and the entire region have lost a great friend and champion with her passing.”

Tomlinson-Keasey is survived by her husband, Blake Keasey, and children Amber and Kai, and several grandchildren.

Memorial services are pending. In lieu of flowers, the family has requested that donations be made to the Carol Tomlinson-Keasey Fund, in care of the UC Merced Foundation, Gift Administration Office, UC Merced, 5200 N. Lake Road, Merced 95343.