Milton Gordon, who served as Cal State Fullerton president for more than 20 years and led the largest construction spurt in the university’s history, died Tuesday at age 81.
“The impact of Dr. Gordon’s leadership is now and will forever be felt at this university and in the lives and family legacies of the approximately 122,000 Titans — more than half of the university’s total alumni — who graduated during his 22-year tenure as president,” CSUF President Mildred Garcia wrote in a campus-wide message announcing Gordon’s death.
During Gordon’s time as president from 1990 to 2011, the university grew from 25,600 students to more than 36,000, and it saw an increase in academic degree programs from 91 to 104, including the establishment of a doctorate in education program.
He also oversaw the university’s largest construction program, with more than $636 million of new construction and revitalization projects, according to CSUF. He also had a hand in creation of the Guardian Scholars Program that offers educational opportunities to foster youth.
Gordon came to the CSU system in 1986 when he became vice president for academic affairs and a mathematics professor at Sonoma State University. He previously served as a dean and professor at Chicago State University and taught at Loyola University in Chicago and the Chicago Public School System. He was also a mathematician for the Laboratory of Applied Sciences at the University of Chicago.
–City News Service