UC Leader Gardner to Retire Oct. 1 : Education: He says he is unable to continue as president after the death of his wife. He is credited with bolstering the University of California system’s financial base.

BERKELEY —  David Pierpont Gardner, who has been president of the University of California since 1983 and is widely praised for strengthening the financial base of the nation’s most prestigious public higher education system, announced Thursday that he will retire next year on Oct. 1. He attributed his decision to the death nine months ago of his wife, Libby, and said he is unable to continue in the demanding job without her.

Some associates said that the mounting state deficit, which could cause severe cuts at UC’s nine campuses, also shaped his decision. But Gardner, 58, strongly denied that.

“It entered into the decision in no way whatsoever,” he told a news conference at the UC Berkeley campus. “My reasons are not largely personal, they are exclusively personal.”

In a rare public display of emotion, Gardner went on to describe his late wife, who died of heart failure at age 55, as his most important adviser and closest friend during their 32-year marriage.

“Death has now dissolved our partnership, at least for this life, although according to our faith not forever,” said Gardner, who is a devout Mormon, reading from a letter he wrote to the UC Board of Regents. “And it has become clearer with each passing month since Libby’s death that without her I cannot remain as president of the University of California.”

His announcement saddened UC faculty and students, as well as state legislators and education experts around the country. Many spoke with awe of Gardner’s managerial and political skills that, until last year, kept UC on solid financial footing.

Gov. Pete Wilson described himself as “heartbroken” about Gardner’s resignation. “Selfishly, as an alumnus, as a regent, and as governor, I hate to see David leave. He has been magnificent at the helm through very heavy seas for the university,” he said.

Previously president of the University of Utah and a UC vice president before that, Gardner gained national recognition as chairman of the task force that wrote “A Nation at Risk,” the 1983 report that sharply criticized American elementary and high schools and helped set off continuing reform efforts.

As UC president, he formed an alliance with then-Gov. George Deukmejian and reversed the trend of declining funding that the system experienced during the governorships of Ronald Reagan and Edmund G. (Jerry) Brown Jr. UC campuses also underwent a building boom during Gardner’s tenure, and he initiated plans to add a 10th campus, to be located in the San Joaquin Valley.

The UC Board of Regents will form a committee next week to search for a successor to lead the 166,000-student system. No obvious candidates are on the horizon for the job, which pays Gardner $243,500 a year plus hefty benefits.

Some UC and Sacramento sources said several UC campus chancellors, such as Richard C. Atkinson of UC San Diego, Theodore L. Hullar of UC Davis and Chang-Lin Tien of UC Berkeley might be considered. Other officials said it was more likely the regents would take their search outside the UC system.

Gardner, who is eligible for a professorship in education at UC Berkeley, said he was undecided about his plans. His retirement announcement took some officials by surprise because he was widely expected to remain at least long enough to preside over UC’s 125th anniversary in 1993. But his private mood clearly changed after his wife’s death, according to close associates.

And while his public persona remained crisp and professional, he increasingly has warned, in almost apocalyptic tones, that money troubles could devastate UC.

Gardner’s decision to leave comes at a critical juncture in the history of the highly regarded university system. This school year, state general fund support dropped by about 1%, to $2.17 billion. For next year, Gardner is seeking a 9.8% increase.

The state budget shortfalls, combined with an ever-growing demand for admission to UC campuses, threaten to jeopardize UC’s historical commitment--outlined in the model 1960 master plan for higher education--to provide a low-cost, high-quality college education to the state’s top 12% of high school graduates.

To cope with the shrinking finances, UC officials have threatened to cut enrollments by raising entrance standards, a move that would increase pressure on the Cal State and community college systems to the point that many students could be turned away.

Gardner recently warned that such a situation could exacerbate tensions among ethnic groups competing for their share of UC enrollments. On Thursday, he again underscored the grim outlook, saying that UC must avoid becoming “over-enrolled, under-funded, over-regulated and, as a result of those dynamics, politicized.”

Clark Kerr, who was UC president from 1958 to 1967, said in an interview Thursday that he knows that Gardner “is very troubled about the budget prospects ahead, and I think the death of his wife was a terrific blow to him.”

Robert H. Atwell, president of the American Council on Education, also said that Gardner’s leaving “shows you that these are awfully difficult times in this business. . . . I don’t know all the factors in David’s leaving. But I have to believe some of the fun has gone out of it since his wife died. And some of the things David did accomplish or wanted to are either getting compromised or are no longer available” because of money woes, said Atwell, who called Gardner “a giant among giants.”

Even in good times, the UC presidency is a tough job. Larger than the gross national product of many Third World nations, the system’s 1991-92 budget is about $6.4 billion--a third of which came from the state. The university system includes 129,000 employees, gigantic hospitals, renowned law schools, federally sponsored nuclear weapons laboratories, overseas studies programs and highly competitive sports teams. Its 7,429-member faculty now includes 20 Nobel laureates.

Plans to build a 10th campus, in the Fresno or Merced area, and two additional campuses elsewhere in the state are in jeopardy because of the recession. Salary freezes and a push for early retirements have hurt morale among faculty and staff this year. Student fees, which rose 40% this year to $2,274 for in-state undergraduates, are likely to increase again next year.

Gardner’s announced departure is one in a recent string of top executive changes at California universities and colleges, including USC, UC Berkeley, Pomona College, the Cal State system and Stanford University. Unlike the situation at Stanford, where President Donald Kennedy last summer announced his resignation amid investigations into alleged abuses by the university of federal research funds, Gardner’s announcement dismayed even some of his critics.

Gardner’s tenure has not been without controversy, however. Legislators have criticized the size of his salary, part of which is paid for with foundation donations and federal contracts. An internal UC audit this week found that Gardner’s office had inappropriately billed the federal government for some travel and entertainment costs related to research.

Student activists and Democratic leaders were opposed to his insistence on reviewing case-by-case decisions on divestiture of UC funds with companies that conduct business in South Africa, a position that former Gov. Deukmejian overruled in favor of full divestiture.

Gardner’s insistence that UC keep its managerial contracts for the weapons laboratories infuriated many professors. Asian-Americans alleged that there was a secret quota limiting their admissions. Students protested the 40% fee hike that Gardner claimed was the only way to avoid a severe decline in educational quality.

“We think of him as being very formidable when he is against what we want and when he is for us,” said Lee Butterfield, executive director of the UC Student Assn. “As an advocate for a strong University of California, we really like him. . . . I think the university faces a very difficult situation replacing Gardner.”

Like others familiar with Gardner, Butterfield described him as sometimes inscrutable and imperial, but always incisive, polite and politically savvy. Some recalled that Gardner almost never brought to a public meeting of the regents an issue that he feared he might lose. Observers said Gardner was not known as a groundbreaking scholar but more as a skillful diplomat with a fierce devotion to the ideal of the modern university.

Gardner’s strength was “to maximize money for the university and minimize meddling with it,” said Assemblyman Tom Hayden (D-Santa Monica), who is chairman of the Assembly committee on higher education. Hayden said the UC chief will be remembered more for raising UC’s prestige, not for radical changes.

Born in Berkeley, Gardner comes from a family with deep Mormon roots. His great-grandfather was driven from his homes in Canada and then Illinois because of his religious beliefs, and the family eventually settled in Salt Lake City. Gardner said such a background instilled a keen sense of what it is like for a minority to be persecuted. He later pushed to increase the number of ethnic minorities among students and faculty.

Gardner attended Brigham Young University in Utah, a Mormon-affiliated institution, earning a bachelor’s degree in political science in 1955. He received a master’s degree in political science in 1959 and a doctorate in education in 1966, both from UC Berkeley, and worked as director of the UC Alumni Assn. He then became a professor at UC Santa Barbara. From 1967-69, he was assistant chancellor at UC Santa Barbara, serving as a liaison between administrators and students during a period of severe campus unrest.

He was vice president of the UC system for two years before his 10-year term as president of the University of Utah. As the 15th UC president, he succeeded David S. Saxon.

Elizabeth Fuhriman Gardner, who died Feb. 8, was active on behalf of women students and had been named associate of the president in 1987. In that position, she helped arrange hundreds of events involving scholars, ambassadors and heads of state. She, her husband and their four daughters--all now grown--studied or earned degrees at UC campuses.

The family is known for its privacy and strong commitment to family life. In 1983, during interviews for the UC presidency, he reportedly told regents that he did not want to be away from home more than two days in a row and that he would not work on Sundays. The regents, after some debate, agreed to those terms.

A reporter recalled being in Gardner’s office when ABC newsman Ted Koppel invited the UC leader onto his “Nightline” show for an education debate. Gardner declined, saying he was having dinner with his daughters and did not want to miss that.

Gordon reported from Los Angeles and Frammolino from Berkeley. Times education writer Jean Merl also contributed to this story.

David P. Gardner Chronology

Here is a look at David P. Gardner’s presidency of UC: 1983: Gardner, president of the University of Utah and a former vice president of UC, is chosen to replace outgoing UC President David S. Saxon. Gardner’s appointment as UC’s 15th president marks the first time since 1899 that an administrator employed outside the university has assumed the top UC post. In this year, he also chairs the National Commission on Educational Excellence, which produces the landmark “Nation at Risk” report critical of American education. 1984: In his first year in office, Gardner helps secure for the university a 20% funding increase from the state and 16% salary raises for faculty. 1985: After months of escalating protests, Gardner recommends a compromise proposal for divestiture of UC’s $2.4 billion in companies that do business in South Africa. His proposal, approved by the UC Board of Regents, is to review the companies on a case-by-case basis. Gov. George Deukmejian later forces a more dramatic, across-the-board move toward divestiture. 1986: UC Santa Barbara Chancellor Robert A. Huttenback is pressured by Gardner to resign after months of turmoil concerning Huttenback’s expenditure of university funds on his home. Huttenback is convicted in 1988 of embezzlement and tax evasion. Meanwhile, UC experiences continuing sharp growth in enrollment. 1987: Gardner announces that the UC system will need a 10th campus by 2004. Asian-Americans allege that there are quotas limiting them in UC admissions, setting off several investigations. 1988: Gardner says UC must build three campuses to accommodate an enrollment boom. The university beefs up its supervision of the national energy and nuclear weapons laboratories it manages for the federal government, in hopes of eliminating problems of pollution and political lobbying. 1989: After much controversy about alleged quotas on Asian-American enrollment, the regents adopt admissions guidelines that rely more heavily on high school grades and test scores. UC raises student fees 10%. UC and the city of Berkeley reach a compromise on People’s Park, agreeing that recreation facilities, not a dormitory, should be built on the UC property that was once a center of political protest. 1990: Over the objections of many UC faculty members, Gardner urges that the university renew its federal contracts to run nuclear weapons laboratories. UC settles on the San Joaquin Valley as the site for a 10th campus. Chang-Lin Tien, the first Asian-American to head a UC campus, is appointed as the Berkeley chancellor. With Harvard President Derek Bok, Gardner heads a national study that results in major reforms in the Scholastic Aptitude Test. 1991: Gardner recommends a 40% increase in student fees. Approved by the regents, the $650 increase is the largest hike in the university’s history. UC moves to cut 1,000 non-teaching jobs through attrition and early retirements. Gardner continues to warn that budget problems could force enrollment cuts at UC. Meanwhile, UC renews efforts to improve undergraduate education. SOURCE: Times library files and “Who’s Who in the West” Compiled by Times researcher Michael Meyers