Longtime UI President Sandy Boyd, whose tenure transformed the university, dead at 95

Willard "Sandy" Boyd changed the faces of the University of Iowa — and of Iowa City.

Boyd, who was the second longest-serving president of the University of Iowa in the post-war era, died Tuesday at age 95.

"He never really retired from the university," said David McCartney, who worked with Boyd a variety of projects as university archivist from 2001 to 2022. "Sandy liked to say that former presidents should never be heard and seldom seen."

The Twin Cities-born lawyer came to Iowa as a law professor in 1954. He became the university's top academic official in 1964 and its president in 1969.

McCartney described Boyd as "one of the greatest presidents on the university in its history" alongside Virgil Hancher, who served in the role from 1940 to 1964.

When Boyd came to Iowa City, the university was still known at the State University of Iowa, had fewer than 10,000 students and only 27,000 people called Iowa City home.

By the time he completed time as UI president in 1981, he lived in a community transformed. The university enrolled close to 30,000 undergraduate and graduate students while Iowa City claimed more than 50,000 residents.

“Sandy was beloved by the entire university community, and he will always remain one of the major figures in University of Iowa history. His impact and influence are deeply embedded in the character and excellence of this institution to this day,” UI President Barbara Wilson said in a statement released Tuesday.

Boyd served in a number of other influential roles at the UI both before and after his presidency:

• In the 1950s, University President Vernon Hancher tapped him to look at the university's fundraising, leading to the creation of the State University of Iowa Foundation, now known at the University of Iowa Center for Advancement.

• In the early 1960s, he lead the university's first "Human Rights Commission", which sought to improve racial, ethnic and gender equity at the university.

• He helped push Iowa City to adopt a law to prevent racial discrimination in housing.

• And he stepped in to serve as interim president in 2002 and 2003.

Boyd as university president

As president, he was credited with "maintaining dialogue" with student activists during the tumultuous 1970s and served as president until 1981. That 12-year run has not been matched by any of the seven people who have held the role since.

"He represented who and what we are as an institution with integrity, grace, compassion, humor, and humanity, and he changed the university — and our society — for the better in profound and lasting ways," Wilson said.

More:Former UI President "Sandy" Boyd puts 89 years of living into print

Boyd oversaw a dramatic transformation of the University of Iowa, which tripled its undergraduate enrollment to 25,000 under his watch, planned the construction of Carver Hawkeye Arena, and oversaw dramatic expansion of the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics to include the Roy J. Carver Pavilion and the building now known as Boyd Tower — one of two university buildings named for him.

His presidency also came as students at universities around the country clashed with administrators over the Vietnam War, civil rights, environmental rights and other issues.

And while McCartney said Iowa's campus was not immune from the unrest, his research shows that Boyd and Dean of Students Phillip Hubbard — the university's first tenured professor who was Black — actions steered Iowa away from the kind of chaos and violence seen at the University of Wisconsin, the University of Michigan and elsewhere.

"He was very aware of the balance between freedom of expression and the freedom to attend classes," McCartney said.

During Boyd's presidency Hayden Fry was hired as football coach, Dan Gable as wrestling coach and Lute Olsen as men's basketball coach — three of the university's winningest coaches of all time. Under Boyd, the university began planning and construction of Carver Hawkeye Arena, which remains home of its men's and women's basketball teams 40 years later.

Boyd as UI's elder statesman

For 15 years after stepping down as UI president, Boyd ran Chicago's prestigious Field Museum.

Then in 1996, he returned to Iowa City and to teaching — serving again as a professor at the university's nationally ranked law school for nearly two more decades.

As one of the university's best known and best loved champions, he was asked to step in when university president Mary Sue Coleman resigned in 2002 to become president of the University of Michigan.

Even after retiring in 2015, he continued his involvement with the law school, according to a statement from the university.

He is survived by Susan Kuehn Boyd; their three children, Elizabeth “Betsy” Boyd of Iowa City, Willard Lee “Bill” Boyd III of Des Moines, and Thomas Boyd of St. Paul; and seven grandchildren.

A funeral service has not yet been announced.

Daniel Lathrop is the interim editor of the Iowa City Press-Citizen and a staff writer on the Des Moines Register's investigative team. Reach him at (319) 244-8873 or dlathrop@dmreg.com. Follow him at @lathropd on Twitter and facebook.com/lathropod.

This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: Longtime University of Iowa President Sandy Boyd dead at 95