Charley Soderquist, current chair of the UC Davis Foundation Board, a former Alumni Regent and former president of the Cal Aggie Alumni Association, died Tuesday morning, 12 days after suffering a major stroke.

Soderquist, 57, devoted much of the last decade to supporting UC Davis -- as an advocate, fund raiser and champion of campus aspirations. His support ranged from financing a speaker series in the humanities to chairing the campaign to raise funds for a new environmental research center at Lake Tahoe.

"Charley decided over a decade ago that he was going to add UC Davis to his 'causes'," said Chancellor Larry Vanderhoef. "He went at it analytically, like the good businessman that he was, learning through service on the Foundation and Alumni Association boards."

"We laughed many times together about what he one time called the "blundering, boggling, bungling" policies and academic traditions of the university to which he was giving hundreds of thousands of dollars. He seem-ed noticeably more understanding, though never entirely, after his two-year stint as a UC Regent.

"One thing was certain, though -- through it all he had proud, grateful, fond feelings for the faculty, the history and the hopeful intentions of UC Davis. He was generous with his time and money and he wanted to help," Vanderhoef said. "That, finally, was what Charley was -- a caring man who wanted to help. I can't quite imagine our campus without him."

As Dateline went to press, Soderquist's family was organizing a small community celebration of his life to be held this weekend. A university tribute will be organized at a later date.