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Former UW President Charles Odegaard, 88, dies
Wednesday, November 17, 1999
By JUDI HUNT
Charles E. Odegaard ruled the University of Washington for 15 years, including the turbulent 1960s, when demonstrations against the Vietnam War rocked the Montlake campus.
Despite the unrest already bubbling to the surface when he arrived as president in 1958, Mr. Odegaard took firm charge of the university's future.
By the time he retired in 1973, he had changed the face of the UW forever.
Mr. Odegaard died Sunday in his sleep of natural causes in Seattle. He was 88.
During his tenure, Mr. Odegaard, a medieval historian, turned the UW from a run-of-the-mill state school to a prestigious Northwest university that was significantly contributing to the national scene.
"Even his most spiteful detractors, who were legion, grant him that success," the Post-Intelligencer noted when he relinquished his office.
Under his leadership, the university's enrollment of 16,000 more than doubled to 34,000, with minority student enrollment reaching 10 percent. Graduate student enrollment remained stable, but the prestige of the graduate schools grew significantly under Mr. Odegaard's guidance.
In another major shift, the UW's biannual operating budget increased from about $37 million to nearly $400 million.
The campus, looking well-worn in the late '50s, got an $195 million face lift. Mr. Odegaard oversaw the construction of 35 new buildings. The UW health science schools grew with the help of the late U.S. Sen. Warren Magnuson.
In 1983, Mr. Odegaard was awarded the Washington State Medal of Merit for his services.
Camden Hall, UW student body president during the 1961-62 school year, was saddened by Mr. Odegaard's death.
"He was a wonderful man," said Hall, a Seattle attorney. "My main memory is of a man who had definite ideas of where he wanted to go and how he was going to get there. At the same time, he generally listened to people with different views.
"He had a real vision for the university and was a colossus in that vision. Much of what the modern university is today, he created."
Mr. Odegaard received honorary degrees from many institutions.
He served on many boards and commissions, including the National Endowment for the Humanities.
He was a board member of several local civic organizations, including the Pacific Science Center, Seattle Public Library and Seattle Symphony Orchestra.
Born Jan. 10, 1911, in Chicago Heights, Ill., Mr. Odegaard was a graduate of Dartmouth College and received his doctorate from Harvard University.
Mr. Odegaard was preceded in death by his wife, Elizabeth J. Ketchum, in 1980. Survivors include his daughter, Mary Ann Odegaard Quarton, a lecturer in marketing and international business at the UW School of Business; her husband, Bruce Roderick Quarton; four grandchildren, three nieces, a nephew, a cousin and seven grandnephews and grandnieces.
A memorial service will be held Monday at 2:30 p.m. in Kane Hall, Room 130, at the UW. A reception will follow in the Walker-Ames Room.
In lieu of flowers, the family suggests donations to the Odegaard Undergraduate Library or the Betty Odegaard Fund.
P-I reporter Judi Hunt can be reached at 206-448-8348 or judihunt@seattle-pi.com
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