David Jesse

Detroit Free Press

David Adamany, Temple University president and former president of Wayne State University, died on Thursday at age 80 after a brief illness, Temple officials announced today.

Adamany led Wayne State for 15 years — the longest-serving president in the university's history — and helped transform the struggling Detroit institution into a premier research center.

Adamany also served as the interim chief executive officer of Detroit Public Schools.

"Our campus community is deeply saddened by the passing of David Adamany, the eighth Wayne State University president, and a man that led the university for 15 years, longer than anyone else," said Michael Wright, chief of staff and vice president for marketing and communications. "Dr. Adamany was a force for change at Wayne State, and his energy and focus helped revitalized the university during a challenging period in its history.

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"His tireless approach to advancing the university occasionally met with resistance, but no member of the Wayne State community could ever doubt his passionate commitment to helping Wayne State realize its potential as a premier, urban research university. He will be missed."

While at Wayne State, he invested heavily in new buildings and research, but told the Free Press when he left Wayne State that he wanted to be remembered for more.

"I would like to be remembered as laying the foundation for a great national university in Detroit," he said in a November 1997 article. "I'm actually a little concerned that I'll be remembered as a developer of buildings and not as the developer of a national research university. But buildings are important. Wayne had too little space and very poorly maintained space in the 1980s, so it was necessary to both upgrade the existing buildings and build new ones. We've spent about $300 million on construction and renovation."

He was controversial during his time in charge of Wayne State. He was described on the day he resigned as a fierce advocate who battled unions, the Legislature and just about anyone else who stood in the way of his determination to hammer WSU into a premiere urban university.

"Never did David waver on anything he felt keenly about, and I admire that," trustee Murray Jackson said in 1997.

Adamany was born on Sept. 23, 1936 in Janesville, Wis.

He was educated at Harvard University and University of Wisconsin. He was the youngest person ever appointed to the Wisconsin Public Service Commission in 1963; taught and/or served in administration at University of Wisconsin, Wesleyan University, California State University-Long Beach, University of Maryland; and was the president of Wayne State and professor of law and political science from 1982 to 1997.

In 1999, he was named interim CEO of Detroit Public Schools, where he fought with unions, including a strike that delayed the start of school. He left for Temple in Philadelphia, another urban university, in 2000.

"I am a very strong believer in the importance of our cities, and I am very deeply committed to our cities' revitalization," he told the Free Press as he left. "I firmly believe that cities will not have a full revitalization until they strengthen their school systems."

He retired in 2006 as a university chancellor. He continued to teach at the university’s Beasley School of Law and in the political science department at the College of Liberal Arts.

“David demanded the best of everyone, especially himself,” said Temple University President Richard M. Englert in a written statement. “He had an exacting vision of Temple as a place where everyone worked in unison for the benefit of our students and that’s the university he helped create.”

Plans for a memorial service are under way, Temple said.

Contact David Jesse: 313-222-8851 or djesse@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter: @reporterdavidj