Rev. Joseph J. Boyle, C.S.C., eighth president of the University of Portland, died suddenly of complications from a stroke on July 3, 1936. He was in Mason City, Iowa, where he had gone to visit family. He had been appointed president of the institution in 1934 and was still serving in that position when he died at the age of 54. He was about to accept an invitation to teach at The Catholic University of America in Washington, DC when he learned of his new duties at the Congregation’s university in Portland. He was enthusiastic about his appointment to the Pacific Northwest and reportedly told the Morning Oregonian newspaper: “I became a citizen of Oregon this morning when the North Coast Limited crossed the Columbia River into the State, and I became a citizen of Portland when I stepped from the train.” In his first year as president the four-year University program was fully accredited. In his second year he authorized the change of the college’s name from Columbia University to the University of Portland in order to be more closely identified with the city. He later initiated a fund raising campaign for the Science Building, now Romanaggi Hall. He died two weeks after construction began, the first University of Portland president to die in office.
For more information on UP history see the University Almanac at www.up.edu/almanac, or the Clark Memorial Library Digital Collections at http://cdm16472.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/.