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Stanford University President Emeritus Donald Kennedy, who led the way for massive fundraising efforts and improvements in undergraduate education, has died from COVID-19, his wife, Robin Kennedy, said Tuesday.

Kennedy, 88, who experienced a stroke in 2015, died on Tuesday morning, April 21, at Gordon Manor, a residential care home in Redwood City, where he lived for the past two years. The residential care home has had at least two deaths due to the coronavirus, according to news reports. A team from the San Mateo County Health Department is assisting Gordon Manor to ensure safety measures are in place and that the facility is in compliance with the county’s April 15 health order for residential care facilities, according to a statement by the city of Redwood City.

In an April 21 email announcing his death, Kennedy’s wife praised his care at Gordon Manor and addressed his illness.

“After a week with no fever, he took a turn for the worst on Saturday night. All measures were taken to ensure he did not suffer. He was peaceful and comfortable during his final days. Many in our family were able to say goodbye to him via FaceTime on Sunday night,” she said.

Kennedy was born in New York City on Aug. 18, 1931, and attended Harvard University, where he earned a bachelor’s degree (1952), a master’s degree (1954) and a doctorate (1956). A neurobiologist, his scholarly research centered on the properties of small nerve cells. He pioneered a new technique of dye injection into single nerve cells so that specialized cell parts — the whole axon, dendrite and cell body of the cell — can be seen in the light of the microscope.

He taught biology at Syracuse University in upstate New York until 1960, then joined Stanford. He was known as an inspiring and dedicated teacher in both biological sciences and in the Program in Human Biology, an interdisciplinary program that he helped establish and directed from 1973 to 1977.

Kennedy also was known for his unconventional teaching style.

“I will never forget Donald Kennedy getting up on the lab table at the front of the lecture hall and assuming a quadruped position to demonstrate to us the concepts of dorsal, ventral, cephalo and caudal. His first concern was always with teaching effectively, not preserving his dignity,” Ingrid Schwontes Jackoway, a 1979 graduate, said in “The Program in Human Biology at Stanford: The First 30 Years, 1971-2001.”

In 1977, he took a leave of absence from Stanford to become commissioner of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration under President Jimmy Carter. He later told an interviewer that “the opportunity to serve government is one that scientists should come to regard as a routine part of their career patterns, just as many academic lawyers, political scientists and economists do.”

At the FDA, he inherited challenges, such as the banning of saccharin, the alleged cancer cure Laetrile, risks associated with antibiotics in animal feeds, alcoholic beverage labeling and chronic complaints that the approval process for new drugs either allowed dangerous drugs into the market or impaired innovation. Kennedy worked to remedy those issues, raising the FDA’s reputation as an independent agency that was not controlled by industry and he improved morale, the New York Times said in 1979 when he returned to Stanford to become provost.

In 1980, Kennedy became the university’s eighth president, succeeding Richard W. Lyman. As president, he focused on improving the quality of undergraduate education. He opened the Stanford Humanities Center, expanded interdisciplinary studies and added overseas campuses in Kyoto, Japan, and Oxford, England.

He also started the Institute for International Studies, the Haas Public Service Center and the Bing Stanford in Washington, which gives undergraduates the opportunity to live, study and work as interns with government agencies and nonprofit organizations in Washington, D.C.

He oversaw the campus’ rebuilding after the 1989 Loma Prieta Earthquake, which caused $160 million of damage to 26 buildings. He also faced a high-profile controversy with the federal government over reimbursement for the indirect costs of research in the Stanford Indirect Costs Controversy. The case was settled out of court but Kennedy resigned in 1992, according to news reports.

Kennedy also faced campus sit-ins in 1985 during the South African divestment movement. Hundreds of students took part in sit-ins outside his office to pressure the university to divest itself of stock in companies doing business with the apartheid regime in South Africa. Stanford decided that “the moral position” was to divest from specific companies that supported the apartheid regime in South Africa, Kennedy said.

There were lighter moments. In 1983 he escorted the United Kingdom’s Queen Elizabeth II on a campus tour. An avid runner, Kennedy was often seen running the Dish. He gave an open invitation to students to join him and tell him what was on their minds. He enjoyed trout fishing, skiing and birding, an interest reflected in the 2009 book he co-authored with artist Darryl Wheye, called “Humans, Nature and Birds: Science Art from Cave Walls to Computer Science.”

He also led the Stanford Centennial Campaign, which raised nearly $1.3 billion and provided funding for new equipment, new buildings and expanded financial aid. At the time, it was the largest sum raised in higher education.

Kennedy stepped down as president in 1992, returning to teaching and focusing on the environment and public policy. In 1997, Harvard University Press published Kennedy’s book, “Academic Duty,” a discussion of challenges facing American higher education.

In 2000, Kennedy became editor-in-chief of Science, the weekly journal of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, through 2008.

In an essay introducing readers to Kennedy, Stanford Professor Paul Ehrlich called him “one of the broadest, warmest, most talented and most literate scientists ever to grace our business.”

Kennedy wrote that he most enjoyed oversight of the weekly editorial page.

“In my nearly eight years at the helm, I had the opportunity to express my views on more than a hundred occasions, writing opinion pieces on such areas of science and policy as dual-use (science can be deployed for good or evil), government secrecy, bioengineering, stem cell research, and climate change that I continue to find most compelling and in need of attention. On occasion I would inject a bit of humor, allowing me to flex my creative muscle,” he wrote in his 2018 memoir, “A Place in the Sun.”

Kennedy returned to Stanford in 2008 and resumed teaching undergraduates. He also taught master’s students enrolled in the Graduate School of Business.

He was also active on a wide variety of boards, nonprofit organizations, foundations and scientific advisory boards, including the national advisory board of the Stanford Institute for Research in the Social Sciences, and the board of directors of QuestBridge, a nonprofit organization based in Palo Alto that connects the nation’s brightest students from low-income backgrounds with leading institutions of higher education and further opportunities. He served as scientific adviser to the PBS NewsHour, and as co-chair of the Committee on Science, Technology, and Law of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. Kennedy also served on the board of directors of Supporters of Agricultural Research Foundation.

From January 2005 to June 2013, he served as a trustee of the David and Lucile Packard Foundation, which works with partners around the world for social, cultural and environmental change designed to improve the lives of children, families and communities.

He also received many awards and honors. He was elected to the National Academy of Sciences in 1972 and was a member of the American Academy of Arts and Science, the National Commission for Public Service and the American Philosophical Society. In 2010, he received Wonderfest’s Carl Sagan Prize for Science Popularization.

At the time of his death, Kennedy was also the Bing Professor for Environmental Science, Emeritus, and senior fellow, emeritus, of the Stanford Woods Institute for the Environment.

“I can’t imagine anyone whose life was more a blessing than was Don’s, for his family, his friends, his students, his colleagues and all of humankind,” his wife said in her email.

At the end of each of his farewell speech to the graduates at Stanford’s commencement, Kennedy would read his favorite quotation from former Illinois Gov. and presidential candidate Adlai Stevenson, she recalled.

“Your days are short here; this is the last of your springs. And now in the serenity and quiet of this lovely place, touch the depths of truth, feel the hem of Heaven. You will go away with old, good friends. And don’t forget when you leave, why you came.”

Kennedy is survived by his wife, Robin Kennedy, of Menlo Park; children Page Kennedy Rochon, of Washington, D.C.; Julia Kennedy Tussing, of Menlo Park; Cameron Kennedy, of Washington, D.C.; Jamie Hamill, of Las Vegas, Nevada; their spouses Mark Rochon, Ted Tussing, Rick Desimone and Rosario Hamill; and nine grandchildren.

A celebration of life will be announced by the family and Stanford University when family, friends and members of the Stanford family can safely congregate.

In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to Stanford Hillel, the Haas Center for Public Service or the Robin and Donald Kennedy Fund for Jewish Studies.

Sue Dremann is a veteran journalist who joined the Palo Alto Weekly in 2001. She is an award-winning breaking news and general assignment reporter who also covers the regional environmental, health and...

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20 Comments

  1. I took several classes from Kennedy and they stand out as the ones I remember best from my years in Biology at Stanford. He was amazing!!

  2. Our region and humanity itself need the technological base of which Stanford is a pillar. Kennedy helped build that up under a long and difficult tenure as president. His life had more positive impact than most could dream of and it’s sad to see him go especially to Covid-19 of which Stanford is one of the key places fighting it. My father passed last year at a very old age. It was sad, but I still realize how much worse it would have been having to worry about him through this. Wish the family well.

  3. A great man. I remember many of his Commencement addresses – in my years often a reference to the wisdom of one of the Boston Celtics players who would double as a philosopher, and always the closing reminder that ‘when you leave here, remember why you came’. I have often thought of that, and I remember very well why I came (and stayed) and I am thankful for his leadership that put Stanford on a great path.

  4. He was 88 and a well respected man who lived a long and rewarding life. He fit the deomgraphic for those who succumb to COVID 19 and a myriad of other flu like viruses. It just may have been his time.

  5. As I recall, at commencement he often cited Adlai Stevenson’s great remark “Your days are short here; this is the last of your springs. And now in the serenity and quiet of this lovely place, touch the depths of truth, feel the hem of Heaven. You will go away with old, good friends. And don’t forget when you leave why you came.” I was touched everytime when I heard it. From my experience, all after his time as Stanford’s president, Don was a warm, friendly man and thoughtful and generous scholar.

  6. I do not think it had to be his time. I want to know why anyone is still getting infected around here. If anything maybe his last legacy should be our efforts to ensure this happens to no one else. My deepest condolences to his family.

  7. For Donald, an Irish blessing.

    May the road rise to meet you,
    May the wind be always at your back.
    May the sun shine warm upon your face,
    The rains fall soft upon your fields.
    And until we meet again,
    May God hold you in the palm of his hand.

  8. For Robin, an Irish blessing.

    May God give you…
    For every storm, a rainbow,
    For every tear, a smile,
    For every care, a promise,
    And a blessing in each trial.
    For every problem life sends,
    A faithful friend to share,
    For every sigh, a sweet song,
    And an answer for each prayer.

    We love you.

    Anneke

  9. What’s the time limit for saying a story is “breaking news” at the Weekly? Donald Kennedy’s passing was announced yesterday afternoon, but it’s still “breaking news” a day later?

  10. Warmest regards to his family on their loss. What an interesting, varied, humor-filled, values-driven, public service life he led. You are so lucky to have shared your lives with such a person. I only met him a couple times, but even during his decline in health at Sunrise he was smiling, and his eyes were still filled with a kindness the world so needs. May we all absorb some of his essence, and remember him when birds sing outside our windows.

  11. Rest in Peace, Don. You were a wonderful man and it was an honor to have known you and benefited from your friendship and wisdom.

  12. One of President Kennedy’s other notable legacies is that Stanford’s “no new motor vehicle commute trips” agreement with Santa Clara County was adopted under his leadership. That agreement, adopted as part of Stanford’s 1989 General Use Permit, allowed Stanford to add over 2,000,000 square feet of new academic buildings and more than 2000 faculty and student housing units, but also committed the University to achieving a goal of no increase in peak hour motor vehicle commute trips to campus.

    The story I recall hearing from my colleagues at Stanford, when I worked there in the mid-90s, is that when Palo Alto, the County, and Stanford were negotiating the permit, Palo Alto’s then-chief transportation official, Marvin Overway, said something like, “The issue about Stanford’s growth that really bothers people is traffic, so why don’t we just limit traffic?” President Kennedy’s background as a biologist and dedicated environmentalist must have made him a ready partner, when Mr. Overway proposed the idea.

    The agreement set the stage for Stanford’s big investments in helping people commute by walking, bicycling, carpooling and transit. Instead of just pouring millions of dollars into more garages, Stanford expanded the Marguerite shuttle from a commute-hour service into a real transit system. The Clean Air Cash program – which pays commuters cash if they walk, bike, take transit or carpool – was added. Over subsequent years, many other programs to help commuters leave their cars at home (or skip owning one) were created.

    After a decade, Stanford had met the “no new trips” goal (and saved a good deal of land and money by reducing parking demand). The approach seemed to work for people in Palo Alto and the County as well, so the no new trips goal was renewed in subsequent permits.

    I don’t have commute statistics reaching as far back as the 1980s at my fingertips, but the figures I do have available show that the drive-alone commute rate for University employees fell from 72% in 2003 to just 49% in 2018.

    Back in 1989, agreeing to achieve no new motor vehicle commute trips, in an area where the vast majority of people drove to work alone, was a bold move. Quite a few doubted it could be done. But that decision did work out. I think both Stanford and its neighbors are better off as a result.

    Today, which happens to be Earth Day, seems like a good day to recall this part of President Kennedy’s legacy. By agreeing to take Stanford down a path less traveled, he left a fine legacy: a more beautiful, more sustainable campus, and cleaner air and less traffic for our region as a whole.

  13. Posted by What Will They Do Next, a resident of Old Palo Alto

    >> He fit the deomgraphic for those who succumb to COVID 19 and a myriad of other flu like viruses. It just may have been his time.

    Thanks. You probably think it may be my time, too. But, I disagree with you.

    Donald Kennedy had a great legacy, and, I’m going to agree with Patrick Siegman above on a particular important point. I think Kennedy was the first to really think through how Stanford could evolve with a more consistent transportation plan. Prior to Kennedy, administrators did projects without a real thought regarding where things were going in 10 or 20 years, and, if the transportation numbers really added up. (Let’s just say that it has been awfully difficult to stick to that consistently.)

  14. Yes, he loved his students. Many years ago Stanford had a star women’s volleyball player by the name of Kim Oden. My wife and I attended many of her games and when Kim made a killing spike, the student section would stand and put their arms over their heads in a ( ) for Oden.

    Well, one night we saw Donald Kennedy walking in the stands and taking a seat in the student section to watch the match. Yes, Kim Oden immediately made a kill and the students stood up making the O. Then Mr. Kennedy looked around and sheepishly stood up and slowly put his arms above his head. The students had no idea he was there and after that he was the first to stand and celebrate Kim Oden’s spikes!

    It was very fun and warming to see him enjoy college life with the students.

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