Jack Peltason
Jack Walker Peltason was the president of the University of California, and former chancellor of the University of California, Irvine. He died of Parkinson's disease in 2015.
Born in St. Louis, Missouri, Peltason was a member of the Smith College faculty from 1947-1951 and then joined the University of Illinois-Urbana faculty. He became dean of the College of Arts and Sciences in 1960. In 1964, he left Illinois to become vice president of academic affairs at the University of California, Irvine. In 1967, he returned to Illinois to become the first chancellor of the Urbana campus and stayed there until 1977 when he returned to Irvine.
Peltason served as president of political science honors society Pi Sigma Alpha from 1978 to 1980, and was also on the executive council of the society from 1970 to 1978.
