{"id":18498,"date":"2025-04-12T07:01:20","date_gmt":"2025-04-12T12:01:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/chicago\/?p=18498"},"modified":"2025-04-12T07:01:20","modified_gmt":"2025-04-12T12:01:20","slug":"former-university-of-illinois-president-stanley-o-ikenberry-dies-at-90","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/chicago\/2025\/04\/12\/former-university-of-illinois-president-stanley-o-ikenberry-dies-at-90\/","title":{"rendered":"Former University of Illinois President Stanley O. Ikenberry Dies at 90"},"content":{"rendered":"

Introduction to Stanley O. Ikenberry<\/h2>\n

He elevated the stature of the University of Illinois in big and brave ways, but former school president Stanley O. Ikenberry\u2019s favorite story to tell of his 16 years at the school\u2019s helm was about an unexpected house party. Mr. Ikenberry, who was just 44 when he accepted the university\u2019s top job in 1979, was playing basketball with his sons on the hoop attached to the garage of the stately president\u2019s home on the Urbana campus when a group of four young men approached him with a question.<\/p>\n

The House Party<\/h2>\n

They were students, and they wanted to take over the president\u2019s house for a single night to entertain dates. Mr. Ikenberry didn\u2019t dismiss the idea outright, but instead said they\u2019d need to run the idea past his wife, Judy. <\/p>\n

The Ikenberrys \u2014 David, Stanley, John, Steven and Judy \u2014 stroll through the yard of their new home, the President\u2019s House at the University of Illinois.
\n\u201cSo they came in, and I said \u2018no alcohol,\u2019 \u201d Judy says. \u201cAnd they said \u2018of course,\u2019 and they produced a menu of nonalcoholic drinks, and I was impressed. And they said their mothers would help with the cooking. And Stan and I agreed that they could do that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mr. Ikenberry’s Leadership<\/h2>\n

Mr. Ikenberry died April 1 at his home in Boca Grande, Florida. He was 90. He had a colorful personality, a quick wit and could be as adroit and persuasive chatting in academic circles as he was with politicians whom the state\u2019s flagship university depended on for funding.<\/p>\n

\"Judy<\/p>\n

Judy and Stanley Ikenberry
\nHigh on Mr. Ikenberry\u2019s list of priorities when he came to the university in 1979 was to raise the pay for faculty to make the school more competitive in luring top talent.<\/p>\n

Legacy and Achievements<\/h2>\n

In 1982, he consolidated the school\u2019s two Chicago campuses \u2014 Chicago Circle and the Medical Center \u2014 into what\u2019s now known as University of Illinois Chicago to enhance the image and improve the quality of the university\u2019s presence in Chicago.<\/p>\n

\"University<\/p>\n

University of Illinois President Stanley Ikenberry, and his wife, Judy, attend their first news conference after he became president.
\nIn 1991, Mr. Ikenberry risked his job to stand up for the successes that were being racked up in Chicago \u2014 and his beliefs.<\/p>\n

Later Life and Career<\/h2>\n

He returned to the helm of the University of Illinois for several months in 2010 to<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Introduction to Stanley O. Ikenberry He elevated the stature of the University of Illinois in big and brave ways, but former school president Stanley O. Ikenberry\u2019s favorite story to tell of his 16 years at the school\u2019s helm was about an unexpected house party. Mr. Ikenberry, who was just 44 when he accepted the university\u2019s […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":18499,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rank_math_lock_modified_date":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[24],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-18498","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-education"},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/cst.brightspotcdn.com\/dims4\/default\/f8d6ce4\/2147483647\/strip\/true\/crop\/1857x1060+0+143\/resize\/1461x834!\/quality\/90\/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fchorus-production-cst-web.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com%2Fbrightspot%2Fb3%2F7b%2Fa246237e4b5187a381c0d2de2773%2F5-12-lachat-hogan-12.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18498"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18498"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18498\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":18500,"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18498\/revisions\/18500"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/18499"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18498"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18498"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18498"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}