Daniel O. Bernstine, who was president of Portland State University during its period of exponential growth in the early 2000s, died last week. He was 69.

Bernstine was president of PSU from 1997 to 2007. During his 10-year tenure, the university brought in $114 million in donations, opened the Urban Studies Center, and added significant student housing to the downtown Portland campus. The student body also grew significantly, topping 25,000 in enrollment for the first time.

Portland State University president Wim Wiewel issued a statement Sunday evening praising Bernstine's leadership.

"Dan Bernstine left an impressive legacy in his 10 years as president of Portland State University," Wiewel's statement says. "Enrollment grew by more than 70 percent, new buildings and renovations opened across campus and he helped pave the way for unprecedented private support, including a $25 million grant from the James and Marion Miller Foundation that supported the research and scholarship on sustainable practices that have helped define PSU."

Before coming to Portland State, Bernstine was the dean of the law school at the University of Wisconsin. He left in 2007 to head the Law School Admission Council in Pennsylvania.

A Law School Admission Council news release issued Sunday said Bernstine "died suddenly at his home." The news release did not specify a day of his passing.

A 2005 Oregonian profile described Bernstine's background: His parents were Louisiana sharecroppers who moved to California after World War II. He was born in 1947, and grew up in Richmond, a working-class town across the bay from San Francisco. His father worked as a janitor, and tagging along with his dad to clean attorneys' offices got him interested in law.

Bernstine earned his undergraduate degree at the University of California, Berkeley, his law degree at Northwestern University School of Law; and a master of laws degree at the University of Wisconsin Law School.

Before arriving in Portland, Bernstine served as dean at the University of Wisconsin Law School. Prior to his tenure at Wisconsin, he was a professor of law and interim dean at Howard University. He was general counsel at Howard University and Howard University Hospital. He was the William H. Hastie Teaching Fellow at Wisconsin and a staff attorney for the U.S. Department of Labor early in his career. He has been a visiting professor and lecturer all over the world, including Taiwan, Germany, and Cuba, and additional US law schools.

Bernstine was awarded the Michael P. Malone International Leadership Award in recognition of his work in internationalization in higher education and was a recipient of the International Citizen Award by the Oregon Consular Corps. He received numerous honorary degrees from universities internationally, including programs in the Russian Federation, Japan, Korea, and Peru. He coauthored legal textbooks and contributed articles to journals, among them Wisconsin Environmental Law Journal, the Bar Examiner, the Wisconsin Law Review, Black Law Journal, and Villanova Law Review.

Susan Krinsky, chair of the LSAC Board of Trustees, said in a statement: "While our concern right now is with helping all of Dan's friends and colleagues to deal with his loss, the board and I have complete confidence in the senior management team that Dan built. LSAC will be instituting succession procedures at the appropriate time."

Bernstine, who was previously divorced, is survived by two grown children: daughter Quincy, and son Justin. Funeral or memorial services information was not known Sunday.

-- Grant Butler

Reporter Allan Brettman contributed.