Terry Sanford

Surely there is a place in heaven for Terry Sanford.

For eight decades, Duke's patron saint found his way into the soul of this University and into the hearts of North Carolinians. The highlights of his storied career read like the resume of a dozen men combined: four decorations as a paratrooper during World War II, two years as a state senator, four years as N.C. governor, 15 years as University president, two runs for the U.S. presidency and six years as a U.S. senator.

On Saturday morning at 11:30 a.m., however, he finally stopped to rest.

After a four-month battle with cancer, Sanford died peacefully in his sleep while surrounded by his family at his Durham home. He was 80 years old.

A memorial service for Sanford will be held Wednesday, April 22, at 11 a.m. in the Chapel on West Campus. Thomas Langford, former dean of the Divinity School and University provost, will deliver the eulogy. Other featured speakers will include N.C. Governor Jim Hunt, University President Nan Keohane and Dean of the Chapel Will Willimon.

Sanford announced in late December that he had been diagnosed with inoperable esophageal cancer and that his doctors had told him he had just a few months remaining. He returned to the hospital earlier this month to fend off an infection caused by a round of chemotherapy. After his release from the hospital last Wednesday, Sanford's condition slowly deteriorated.

"Uncle Terry," as he dubbed himself during his University presidency in a now-legendary letter to the student body, embodied values as a man, a leader and a politician that nowadays seem to hold meaning only in dictionaries. Sanford was courageous, genuine and innovative. And although he held political office on several occasions during his lifetime, he never needed a title to do the work of kings.

Health problems caused by his advancing age cost him his U.S. Senate seat in 1992, but Sanford spent the twilight of his life as vital as the young. He wrote books, taught classes at the University and, most recently, campaigned mightily for the construction of a major performing arts center in the Triangle area that would provide a permanent home for the American Dance Festival, the North Carolina Symphony and the Carolina Ballet.

Of all the titles Sanford earned, his legacy perhaps is summarized best with one he never formally held: teacher.

Driven by his belief that a person could accomplish anything with a good education, Sanford nearly doubled North Carolina's expenditures on public schools during his term as governor from 1961 to 1965. He consolidated the University of North Carolina school system to ensure its solvency and strength. He conceived the idea for the state's Governor's Schools for talented children. He established the North Carolina School of the Arts to keep creative children in their home state. And he fought for racial desegregation-even sent his son to a desegregated public school-at a time when such a position was politically unpopular and possibly dangerous.

In recognition of Sanford's efforts in education and in countless other areas, a 1981 Harvard University survey named him one of the 10 best governors of the 20th century. It is all the more remarkable, then, that Sanford's work as University president at least equaled-if not exceeded-his achievements as governor.

Through a combination of careful attention to the feelings and thoughts of students, shrewd administrative appointments and sound fiscal leadership, Sanford elevated the University from a respected liberal arts institution in the South to one of the nation's preeminent academic powerhouses. In the Allen Building, just as in the governor's office, he preached the values of education. Education at the University during the Vietnam War, however, encompassed a lot more than chalkboards and grade point averages, and Sanford, who assumed the reins of a tumultuous University in 1969, understood that fact better than anyone else.

Faced with student protests, including Allen Building takeovers, almost from the moment he set foot on campus, Sanford artfully defused the activists' tensions without belittling their interests. He admired the pluck and determination of the protesters and, perhaps more importantly, urged them to learn as they acted.

Keohane hailed Sanford, who often referred to his early years at the University as the best of his life, for his attention to education and for his faith in peoples' abilities to learn.

"His energy and spirit and passionate belief in people-especially young people-and in the power of education helped everyone he touched believe that this world could be a better place," she said.

Born Aug. 20, 1917, in Laurinburg, N.C., to his parents, Cecil and Elizabeth, Sanford came of age during the Depression. He paid his own way through UNC-Chapel Hill by washing dishes, and eventually graduated in 1939 with an A.B.

After college, Sanford served for two years as a special agent in the FBI. He married Margaret Rose Knight on Independence Day in 1942, and the couple later had two children: a son, Terry Jr., and a daughter, Elizabeth. Soon after the marriage, Sanford volunteered as a paratrooper in the U.S. Army. He saw combat during five separate campaigns and participated in the Allied invasion of Southern France and in the Battle of the Bulge. Discharged in 1946 as a first lieutenant, Sanford received four decorations, including the Purple Heart.

Returning stateside, Sanford did not linger in private life for long. He quickly became active in the state's Democratic Party, and was elected in 1953 to the N.C. Senate. He was elected governor in 1961 and, in accordance with North Carolina law, served a single term in that capacity. His term as University president, which began in 1969, was balanced with two unsuccessful runs for the U.S. presidency, first in 1972 and again in 1976.

Sanford retired from his post as University president in 1985, and was elected the next year to the U.S. Senate, where he served on several committees during his single term, including the Foreign Relations Committee and the Select Committee on Ethics.

In 1992, after losing his re-election bid to Republican Lauch Faircloth, the 74-year-old Sanford returned to the University as a professor of the practice of public policy. In 1994, the Institute of Policy Sciences and Public Affairs-which he created in 1971-was renamed the Terry Sanford Institute of Public Policy following the completion of a new building.

Sanford's body will be interred in the Chapel's Memorial Chapel along with the University's founding family and two other former University presidents. A closed-casket viewing, open to the public and guarded by a sentry from the Fort Bragg Military Base's 82nd Infantry, will be conducted in the Chapel from 3:30 p.m. Tuesday until the open funeral service Wednesday morning. The Sanford family will receive friends and well-wishers in the Chapel Tuesday night from 6:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. A reception in the Bryan Center will follow the Chapel service.

Sanford is survived by his wife, his son and his daughter.

Richard Rubin and Katherine Stroup contributed to this story.