Wichita State University education professor and senior vice president emeritus James Rhatigan has died at 89.

Rhatigan joined the university in 1965 and became its first vice president of student affairs and later became senior vice president, serving for more than 35 years.  In 1997, the Campus Activities Center was named the Rhatigan Student Center.  He retired in 2002 but still went to his campus office on a regular basis.

The WSU Foundation and Alumni Engagement announced Rhatigan’s passing Sunday in a message on Facebook:

For nearly six decades, Dr. Rhatigan served Wichita State University. He was a devoted mentor to its student body and a national figure in educational activism. As vice president for student affairs and dean of students, he was regarded as “the student’s best friend” and an exemplar of integrity, compassion and principled leadership. Throughout his tenure at Wichita State and as a consultant for the WSU Foundation and Alumni Engagement, he worked tirelessly and continuously to increase access to education for tens of thousands of students, yet he never lost sight of the importance of fostering relationships at the individual level.