UC Davis will remember Chancellor Emeritus Larry N. Vanderhoef in a celebration of life this Wednesday (Nov. 4), starting at 10:30 a.m. in Jackson Hall at the Mondavi Center for the Performing Arts — and online for people who are unable to attend.

A reception will follow on Vanderhoef Quad. Release time is appropriate from 10:30 a.m. to noon with supervisory approval.

The live stream will be available here, or look for the link on the UC Davis home page the morning of the service.

Vanderhoef

Chancellor Emeritus Vanderhoef, 74, died the evening of Oct. 15 of complications from successive ischemic strokes. He had served as provost and executive vice chancellor for 10 years (1984-94) and chancellor for 15 years after that, until his retirement in 2009. Read his obituary.

Ralph J. Hexter, provost and executive vice chancellor, will preside at the celebration of life.

Speakers: Chancellor Linda P.B. Katehi, who succeeded Vanderhoef as chancellor; Robert Grey and Virginia Hinshaw, who served as provost and executive vice chancellor under Vanderhoef; Zuhair Munir, distinguished professor emeritus and former dean of the College of Engineering; Robert Segar, assistant vice chancellor, Campus Planning and Community Resources; Seth Merewitz, ASUCD president during Vanderhoef’s tenure; Brice Harris, chancellor, California Community Colleges; and Vanderhoef’s wife of 52 years, Rosalie.

The UC Davis Symphony Orchestra will perform works by Mozart (Adagio from his Clarinet Concerto) and Beethoven (Allegretto from Symphony No. 7), under the baton of D. Kern Holoman, music professor emeritus. He was the orchestra conductor during the Vanderhoef-led campaign to build the Mondavi Center for the Performing Arts, a premier venue recognized particularly for its acoustics.

Holoman conducted the symphony in the Mondavi Center’s first concert, Sept. 28, 2002 — a “hard-hat concert” for construction workers and their families, as well as architects, engineers and others who had been involved in the building project. Jeremy Ganter, who today serves as the center’s associate executive director, recalled how Holoman took the stage for that concert, telling The Davis Enterprise a few years back: “He had a hard hat in his hand, and he lifted it and shook it in the air, and the audience started cheering."

The Mondavi Center is one of Vanderhoef's greatest legacies, one of the pieces of the campus's new "front door," a grand south entry. He worked on that project with Bob Segar, the campus planner at the time, and, when the Mondavi Center hosted its first Fall Convocation, on Oct. 2, 2002, the chancellor surprised Segar by bringing his violinist daughter on stage to perform.

At the celebration of life, Vanderhoef’s own daughter, Susanne, will be on stage to sing an aria, Bist du bei Mir by J.S. Bach.                                       

Besides his wife and daughter, Chancellor Emeritus Vanderhoef is survived by son Jon (Kim) Vanderhoef; sisters Lois (Christian) Krenzke and Linda (Curtis) McDermott; brother Lee (Debbie) Vanderhoef; brothers-in-law Andrew (Mavis) and Ronald (Janet) Slifka; and numerous nieces and nephews.

The family asks of people wishing to make memorial contributions, to please consider either the Larry N. Vanderhoef Scholarship for Study Abroad or the Larry N. Vanderhoef Staff Scholarship. Contributions may be made online or by mail to UC Davis Advancement Services, 1460 Drew Ave., Suite 100, Davis 95618 (checks should be made payable to the UC Davis Foundation, with the scholarship’s name designated on the memo line).

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