C.D. Spangler Jr., who served as the president of the University of North Carolina System for 11 years, has died.

The system announced his passing in a release on Monday afternoon.

Current system president Margaret Spellings called Spangler “a great North Carolinian,” in a statement issued through the system. She added, “he will forever be a giant of our state.”

Spangler’s daughter, Anna Nelson, currently serves on the UNC System Board of Governors.

Spangler was a prominent Charlotte businessman before his time leading the system beginning in 1986.

“He will be remembered as a gifted business leader, a compassionate philanthropist, and above all as a public servant who answered the call of the University at a critical time in its history,” Spellings said.

Spangler’s former vice president for communication at the system Wyndham Robertson said that Spangler fought to keep a higher education affordable for North Carolinians.

“As president of the UNC System, Dick Spangler fought against tuition increases, understanding that many North Carolinians can’t afford what others consider the modest cost of attending a state university,” Robertson said. “He made the System a more comfortable place for women and minorities; he sought them out and pushed them into positions of leadership.”

Spangler was a graduate of UNC – Chapel Hill and Harvard Business School. Spangler was 86 years old.

Various members of the local and state community released statements remembering Spangler and the work he did for the UNC System.

The full statement from Margaret Spellings is below:

“C.D. Spangler, Jr. was a great North Carolinian, and he will forever be a giant of our state. He will be remembered as a gifted business leader, a compassionate philanthropist, and above all as a public servant who answered the call of the University at a critical time in its history. He believed in the power of education to change lives and transform a state, and he made those possibilities into reality through his life’s work. The first in his family to go to college, Dick never forgot who our public universities were meant to serve. North Carolina is the prosperous, growing state that it is because of principled leaders like Dick.

My thoughts are with his wife Meredith, and his daughters Abigail and Anna. Anna continues her father’s legacy through her leadership on the Board of Governors. This state will forever be indebted and grateful that Dick dedicated his life to public service, public education, and the state he loved so much.”

The full statement from Wyndham Robertson is below:

“As president of the UNC System, Dick Spangler fought against tuition increases, understanding that many North Carolinians can’t afford what others consider the modest cost of attending a state university. He made the System a more comfortable place for women and minorities; he sought them out and pushed them into positions of leadership. He was a great boss. As the first female vice president of the UNC System, I had some tricky moments, but I always knew he had my back. He loved North Carolina and often said being president was the best job in the world.”

UNC System President Emeritus Erskine Bowles issued the following statement:

“Our State and our University have lost a giant—a leader like no other. Fortunately for all of us the enormous good he did will live on. He was strong, forthright, thoughtful and caring. Throughout his life he never varied a degree from his true north in any decision he made or in any relationship he had. Every student who enters the University for generations to come will benefit from those deep values that guided each and every decision he made.”

North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper issued the following statement:

“Dick Spangler was a champion for public education as a member of his local school board, chairman of the State Board of Education and president of our great university system. We will miss his courage, innovation and inspiration.”

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