Editor's Note: A photo is available upon request from Maril Stratton at (530) 752-3683 or mrstratton@ucdavis.edu.

Chancellor Emeritus James H. Meyer, who guided the University of California, Davis, during its greatest period of unrest, change and growth and who was recognized as a leader in the adaptation of management theory and techniques to higher education, died Saturday, Oct. 12, after a lengthy illness.

A calming presence in moments of crisis and a patient and deliberate consensus-builder, Meyer, 80, served as chancellor from 1969 to 1987. His steady hand at the helm kept the campus moving forward for nearly a generation.

Throughout his 18 years at the campus's top post, he demonstrated the courage to hold to his convictions, an understanding of his constituency's diverse needs and a belief that all facets of the campus community should be involved in the decision-making process. This attitude would see him successfully through the inevitable complications and crises posed by periods of budget cutbacks and freezes, repeated student protest, water and energy shortages, potentially damaging state ballot measures and unprecedented university growth.

His tenure, marked by innovation and expansion, would see the establishment of four new campuswide divisions and the creation of the Graduate School of Management. Eleven major teaching and research facilities were constructed under his leadership and two more were completed shortly after his retirement -- including a food and agricultural sciences building that now bears his name. The annual campus budget rose from $86.1 million to $583.9 million. Faculty and staff numbers increased from 4,100 to 12,800, and enrollment jumped from 12,000 to nearly 20,000. Some 65,000 alumni studied at UC Davis during his 18 years as chancellor.

Students grew not only in number but also in diversity. Transfer students, re-entry students, women and ethnic minorities began to make a presence, and they, as well as "traditional" students, began to show a decided preference for the professions.

Throughout all of the changes, Meyer held to certain goals and beliefs that helped him guide the university to its increased popularity and prestige. He was dedicated to ensuring that students receive a broad education to prepare them not only for a career but also for life. To that end, he implemented or supported such concepts as the General Education Program, a "stop out" program for a temporary break from studies, the Work-Learn Program, peer advising and the Division of Extended Learning to help people of all ages continue their education.

He was committed to strengthening the university's public service component as a means of solving pressing societal ills. To address these problems, his administration oversaw the creation or augmentation of programs in affirmative action, ethnic and environmental studies, and centers for women and consumer research.

Meyer also remained dedicated to a collaborative approach, providing for full campus involvement through the inclusion of students, staff and faculty on committees; the formation of the UC Davis Staff Assembly; and the appointment of student assistants to the chancellor. He cultivated communication and contact among the diverse campus groups and between them and himself, and remained the chancellor known for riding his bike to work each day and for winning the Picnic Day cow-milking contest each year.

"This campus has benefited enormously from the vision and leadership of Chancellor Meyer," said UC Davis Chancellor Larry Vanderhoef, who was hired by Meyer in 1984 as the campus's executive vice chancellor. "Jim mentored by example and was clever enough so that you usually thought his great idea was actually your own. More than anything else, he taught that consultation with all the university's constituencies was essential on most campus matters."

Managing a university "is much more complex than managing a company in private industry," Meyer told the university's alumni magazine when he retired. "University administration requires consultation and the involvement of many segments -- it's the most decentralized organization in the world." And, unlike industry, decision-making at the university is a slow process, he said, but "it's a process that is essential to the very nature of the institution."

He also commented then on the UC Davis community: "This is a rare place, a good community. When problems have arisen, people have been willing to solve them. An organization based on intellectual activity has to have disagreements, debate and clashes of ideas, but these don't have to be acrimonious."

A modest man, Meyer at his retirement took credit for just one thing -- his appointments of capable people to positions of responsibility.

Recalls his longtime assistant, Lorena Herrig: "Any success he may have achieved as an administrator he attributed to the selection of the very best in his deans and vice chancellors and his administrative staff."

Elmer Learn, who served for 15 years as Meyer's executive vice chancellor, said Meyer "was an excellent chancellor, who brought us through an exceedingly difficult time for this university and for universities across America. He had an ability to communicate with all elements of the university in a way that kept the unrest from splitting the campus in ways that could have been very harmful."

UC Davis history book "Abundant Harvest" notes Chancellor-Designate Meyer's 1969 meeting on the campus Quad with students upset over the use of force at a UC Berkeley Vietnam War protest:

"'Some of them knew who I was, some didn't,' [Meyer] said later, but some of his own children were in the crowd....In the low-key style that would become his trademark, Meyer reviewed each demand, agreeing that some were reasonable while suggesting that others needed more consideration. Instead of a cancellation of scheduled classes the following week, Meyer suggested that students attend their usual class meetings and request special discussion time on the issues of the day. 'When they left, they asked me, 'Are you with us?' and I said, 'Yes, I am,'" recalled Meyer later.

"'I am with you' went into the press, and into the folklore of the campus. In the Sacramento Bee, Governor Reagan said Meyer's support of the students made him sick; Meyer himself began to doubt that he would ever officially become chancellor. 'I didn't mentally unpack for two years,' he told an interviewer later."

Raised on a livestock- and grain-producing ranch in northern Idaho, Meyer received his undergraduate degree from the University of Idaho, Moscow. After serving in the Marine Corps in the Pacific in World War II, he received his master's and doctor's degrees in animal nutrition from the University of Wisconsin, Madison. He then joined the faculty of UC Davis' Department of Animal Science, where he progressed through the ranks from instructor in 1951 to professor in 1962. He served three years as department chair, then six years as dean of the College of Agriculture.

In 1967, he led the college to change its name to the College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences. "He knew the environmental vulnerabilities of production agriculture and felt the university had to be involved in the solution to those growing problems," said Chancellor Vanderhoef. "In that day, many considered the name change treason, but Jim prevailed and many colleges across the country followed his lead."

As chancellor, Meyer's research emphasized the application of modern management systems in the administration of a university, stressing flexibility, decentralization, a minimum of administrative overhead and the ability of an institution to change. In retirement, he returned to his home department of animal science and wrote and lectured about the changing role of the land-grant university in modern society.

He leaves his wife, Alice Bell; daughter Trace Harris and son-in-law Jon Harris of New York City and their son, Jack; daughter Joan Meyer and son-in-law Tom Chalmers of Weston, Mass., and their children, Margot and Tom Chalmers; son Gary Meyer and daughter-in-law Marti Jo Meyer of Sacramento; son Stephen Meyer and daughter-in-law Mary Lou Flint of Sacramento and their children, Willy and Nick; and daughter Susan Meyer of Davis and her children Matthew, Jamie and Joseph Shimek. He is predeceased by wives Margaret Hickman Meyer and Mary Regan Meyer.

A private graveside service for the family will be held this week, as well as a small memorial service for family friends at University Retirement Community in Davis. A university memorial service is planned for later this fall quarter.

The family asks that those wishing to make memorial contributions consider a donation to benefit students in the UC Davis Department of Animal Science. Checks, made out to "UC Regents" in memory of James H. Meyer, should be directed to the Animal Science Memorial Fund, c/o the Department of Animal Science, UC Davis, One Shields Avenue, Davis, CA 95616.