Former Vanderbilt athletic director David Williams has died, the school announced Friday.

"David Williams stood tall on this campus, in this city and in college athletics nationally as an incomparable leader, role model and dear friend to me and so many others," Vanderbilt chancellor Nicholas S. Zeppos said in a statement. "We are devastated by this loss. His impact on our community is immeasurable and will be felt for generations to come. We offer our deepest condolences to Gail, his children and the entire Williams family on this immense loss.”

Williams, 71, announced in September he was stepping down from his AD position with VU, a move that ended his trailblazing 15-year tenure leading Vanderbilt athletics. Williams officially left his post Jan. 31 to make way for new Vanderbilt AD Malcolm Turner.

“The Vanderbilt family is saddened to learn of the passing of David Williams," Turner said in a statement. "David authored a remarkable legacy at Vanderbilt, one defined by blazing trails and championing the student-athlete. In my short time at Vanderbilt, I was fortunate to have cultivated a friendship with David, who most proudly coveted his role as a husband and father. All of Commodore Nation mourns the loss of David, and our thoughts and prayers are with his wife, Gail, his four children, his six grandchildren, and his great-grandson.”

During Williams’ tenure, the Commodores have won four national championships – in bowling, baseball and women’s tennis. Vanderbilt has also won more than 19 league titles and tournaments, including the men’s golf and women’s tennis Southeastern Conference championships and the Southland Conference Bowling Championship. The Vanderbilt football team has played in five bowl games during Williams’ tenure, breaking a 26-year drought in 2008.

Academically, Vanderbilt student-athletes have earned over a cumulative 3.0 GPA every year for the past 13 years. In the NCAA’s most-recently released Academic Progress Ratings, a total of 11 Commodore athletic programs finished with perfect 1000 APR scores, and Vanderbilt football finished No. 2 in the nation.

A hallmark of Williams’ tenure has been the expansion of academic and experiential opportunities for student-athletes. In the summer of 2017, Vanderbilt Athletics provided full financial support for 10 student-athletes to study abroad, an opportunity often not available to student-athletes because of their demanding play and practice schedules. The athletic department also offers the country’s most comprehensive summer internship program for student-athletes. In 2017, 84 student-athletes took part in summer internships in the Nashville area. The program has been recognized by peers as a model to replicate. In addition, the department sponsored its fifth annual international service trip, in conjunction with Soles4Souls, by having 25 student-athletes travel to Morocco.

He also added to Vanderbilt’s football traditions, instituting Anchor Dash, where first-year students get the chance to lead the football team out onto the field as a class before each home opener, and “Dropping the Anchor,” where before each home game a group or individual is selected to “drop the anchor” at midfield to mark the beginning of game day events.

During his tenure as athletics director, Williams brought significant attention to sports’ impact on society, underscoring Vanderbilt’s rich and often troubled history during the civil rights movement, and he was instrumental in leading efforts for recognition of and reconciliation with Vanderbilt and Nashville pioneers, such as Perry Wallace, and in educating current students, faculty and staff about the university’s past.

Williams led numerous athletic facility upgrades and expansions, including Vanderbilt Stadium, Hawkins Field, Brownlee O. Currey Tennis Center, Memorial Gym, the Hendrix Dining Room, McGugin Center, the Student Recreation and Wellness Center, the golf teams’ clubhouse and hitting bay, and a new bowling alley. Williams also headed the development of the multipurpose facility, which houses an indoor practice field that is used for varsity football, soccer and lacrosse as well as intramural and club sports teams, and an indoor track used by the Vanderbilt community.

Under Williams’ leadership, Vanderbilt and Nashville were selected to host a strong of NCAA and SEC championship events. Vanderbilt will co-host the 2021 NCAA Regional Championship for Division I men’s golf and the 2018 SEC Outdoor Championships for track and field. Vanderbilt also has helped host multiple NCAA Regionals and Super Regionals for baseball and a number of SEC Championships, including indoor track and field and women’s tennis in 2017, men’s tennis and the women’s basketball Final Four in 2014, and cross country and women’s golf in 2012.