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  UCLA Archives Sue Young, wife of former UCLA chancellor Charles E. Young, died of breast cancer on Friday, Sept. 28.

By Robert Salonga

Daily Bruin Staff

Sue K. Young, wife of former chancellor Charles E. Young, died of breast cancer at her home Friday. She was 69.

Young served as first lady of UCLA during her husband’s 29-year tenure from 1969 to 1997. Her efforts to achieve full recognition of the spousal role in academic leadership inspired her appointment in 1987 as the first University of California associate of the chancellor.

“The entire UCLA family is saddened by the loss,” current chancellor Albert Carnesale said Friday.

“This is someone who devoted 29 years of her life to make the university a better place and to make all American universities better places,” he added.

Since fall 1999, she served as first lady of the University of Florida, Gainesville, where her husband is now president.

“While Sue Young was with us, the university benefited from her grace, kindness, charm and personal interest in our faculty and students,” said University of Florida provost David Colburn.

During her time at UCLA, Young organized numerous campus events, displaying a perfectionism that was unmistakable to those who knew her.

“She was always a stickler for details,” said John Sandbrook, who served as Charles’ assistant for close to two decades and is the current assistant vice provost of the College of Letters & Science.

“The words bravery, dedication and perfectionist all come to mind,” said Sandbrook, who visited Young on Tuesday at her Thousand Oaks home. “There was no one who loved UCLA more than she did.”

Carol Afshar, who served as Young’s assistant while she and her husband lived at the Chancellor’s Residence, said Young went to great measures to entertain guests at their home.

“She was an expert at designing events and making everyone feel welcome,” Afshar said.

Her public accomplishments were well-known and well-documented, but friends say it was her personal warmth that left a lasting effect on them.

Carnesale recalled the day his appointment was announced, when he called Charles Young at home that evening. After Charles offered his support, he asked Carnesale to wait a few minutes so his wife could talk to him.

“She extended her welcome and offered to be of assistance in any way at the university and made it clear that she would be there to support UCLA and to support me even after she was no longer the official first lady,” Carnesale said.

“That began a very warm friendship between us,” he continued.

During the 1980s, Young brought national attention to the role of a spouse of a university chancellor or president. This led to her appointment as the UC’s first associate of the chancellor.

“The position of a college president’s wife is an isolated one, and spouses need to know they are not alone and can work together finding solutions to problems,” Young said in a 1985 Los Angeles Times article.

In 1994, when Charles was honored for serving as chancellor for 25 years, Young offered one explanation for her pursuit of spousal recognition.

“I have only been the associate for about six years. Before that, I was simply the chancellor’s wife,” Young wrote at the time. “One might ask why bother with a title? It was the principle of the thing.”

Raymond Orbach, chancellor of UC Riverside and former provost under Charles, said Young served as a role model for all university leaders’ spouses, including his wife Eva.

“I learned from her what the wife of a chancellor can accomplish and how important that position is,” Orbach said. “She handled herself beautifully, and we have tried to emulate her example in our dealings at Riverside.”

Young was born in Colton, Calif., on Jan. 4, 1932. She met Charles while they were both students at San Bernardino Valley College. They married in 1950 and celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary last year.

She began her UCLA tenure in 1960, when Charles joined the administration of then-Chancellor Franklin D. Murphy, whom he succeeded as chancellor.

Young, who returned to school in her 40s after taking time off to raise a family, graduated magna cum laude in 1977 from UCLA with a degree in political science. She also completed 18 months of graduate work in linguistics.

At UCLA, she was an ex-officio board member of the Faculty Women’s Club and a member of the boards of Women and Philanthropy at UCLA and the Iris Cantor Center for Breast Imaging.

Young had been battling breast cancer for years. According to Sandbrook, she nearly died in 1997 during the week Charles retired as chancellor.

“I’m happy that Chuck was able to enjoy four years of his retirement after UCLA with her,” Sandbrook said.

Young once chaired the Partners Committee of the Association of American Universities and also the Council of President’s/Chancellor’s Spouses of the National Association of State Universities and Land-Grant Colleges.

The UCLA Alumni Association presented her with a Special University Service Award in 1985. She was honored again by the association in 1988 with a Distinguished Achievement Award, given to the Youngs in recognition of their 20th anniversary at UCLA.

Young served on the Los Angeles City Civil Service Commission from 1974 to 1977.

She also wrote the “New Comprehensive American Rhyming Dictionary” in 1991 and the “Scholastic Rhyming Dictionary for Children” in 1997.

She is survived by her husband and two children, Charles Young Jr. and Elizabeth Young-Apstein, and seven grandchildren.

Funeral services will be private, and a campus memorial will be held at a later date.

In lieu of flowers, the family requests that donations be made to the Sue K. Young Scholarship Fund and sent to the UCLA Foundation, c/o Rhea Turteltaub, 10920 Wilshire Blvd., Suite 1400, Los Angeles, CA, 90024.