Sonoma bids farewell to a trailblazing education leader

He brought to Sonoma the same relentless determination and deep passion to be a positive force in education that he did in helping to establish UCLA as one of the nation’s top universities.

So, when Charles E. “Chuck” Young died at his home in Sonoma at the age of 91 on Sunday, Oct. 22, of natural causes after contracting pneumonia, tributes and fond memories of him poured in from Valley residents.

After moving to Sonoma in 2012, he immediately began serving on the Sonoma Valley Education Foundation board of directors.

“When we met, Chuck was already well aware of the Sonoma Valley Unified School District, and he helped lead our efforts to bring more robust and substantial community support to the public schools,” said Laura Zimmerman, who was serving as executive director of the foundation at the time. “As he became more deeply engaged in the local public schools, Chuck would often say to people, ‘It does not matter where you attended school as a child. If you live here in Sonoma, these are your schools, and this is where you can make a difference.’”

Angela Ryan, the current executive director of Sonoma Valley Education Foundation, added, “When he advocated for the students of Sonoma Valley, he brought the same advocacy tor the marginalized and under-resourced members of our community (as he had at UCLA), demanding a better education that helped each student achieve their full potential, regardless of their background.”

During the 2017-18 school year, at the age of 85, Young stepped out of retirement to serve as interim superintendent of Sonoma Valley Unified School District. He helped guide it through a leadership crisis after Superintendent Louann Carlomagno resigned.

“He made two main contributions,” said Anne Ching, president of the district’s board of trustees. “First, Chuck restored financial stability to the district through drastic budget cuts. Unfortunately, he inherited a district in financial distress, unbeknownst at the outset of his superintendency.

“Second, he took action to unify instruction and delivery of a common math and languages arts curricula across all five elementary schools.”

Bruce Abbott, a former associate superintendent of business services for the school district, said Young always amazed him by his ability to “see the issues from a high level.”

“He could be very detailed and very conceptual at the same time,” he said.

Abbott attributes Young’s success as an education administrator to his “brilliance, tenacity and laser focus on diversity and equity.”

“After he left the interim position, he still wanted to help,” Abbott said. “In one meeting, he asked what I needed to make a difference. I told him that we needed better data analysis and didn’t have anyone to do that work. He made a few calls and all of a sudden, I had a $100,000 donation to create the position, which still exists in the district.”

He remained active in other school district affairs and voiced concern about whether John Kelly, then president of the board of trustees, initiated and personally profited from a unilateral deal with union representatives of the North Bay Building and Construction Trades Council without informing his fellow trustees or the district official in charge of business services.

Young has been described as fierce and combative, and while friends and colleagues generally agree with that description, they also are quick to point out that stated in isolation, it is misleading.

“Chuck was deeply committed to doing the right thing,” Zimmerman said. “He was never afraid to speak out or ask tough questions. However, he was simultaneously among the most kindhearted, good-humored and insightful people I have ever known.”

Hired as UCLA’s chancellor in 1968, Young was a strong civil rights advocate, supporting affirmative action policies and defying the University of California Board of Regents when they wanted to fire teacher Angela Davis in 1969 because she was a member of the Communist Party.

He was taking a major risk by doing so and Davis eventually was fired by the board, but he continued to hold steadfast to the principle of academic freedom and championed diversity while serving as chancellor until 1997.

During his 29 years as chancellor, the school’s annual operating budget increased tenfold, to $1.7 billion, endowed professorships soared from 1 to more than 100, undergraduates rose from 19,000 to 24,000 and minority students grew from 12% to 54%.

He also was a strong supporter of the school’s sports teams, which won 61 NCAA men’s and women’s championships in 14 different sports — along with four Rose Bowls and nine Association for Intercollegiate Athletics for Women titles.

Young received the UCLA medal, the school’s highest honor, in 1998, and was inducted into the UCLA Athletics Hall of Fame in 1997.

After retiring as UCLA’s chancellor, he served as president of the University of Florida from 1999 to 2003. He then was president of Qatar Foundation for Education, Science and Community Development — a nonprofit organization based in the Persian Gulf — from 2004 to 2006 and CEO of the Los Angeles Museum of Contemporary Art from 2008 to 2010.

Young and his wife, Judy Young, moved to Sonoma from Thousand Oaks in 2012 to be closer to her daughter, Lisa Rendic, and her two children in Marin County.

In addition to Chuck’s many contributions to education, the couple boosted other aspects of Sonoma Valley life, including health care.

“Chuck was a strong and vocal community member,” said Dave Piers, executive director of Sonoma Valley Hospital Foundation. “He had clear ideas on improving education and health care in our Valley and had the leadership to work toward those goals. I always appreciated Chuck’s wisdom and thoughtfulness, and his approach with me was always caring and helpful.”

Judy added, “I admired Chuck and respected him. He trusted people and always looked for the goodness in them. He came from a very humble background and lost his father early on, but his mother was strong.”

Young was born Dec. 30, 1931, in the San Bernardino County city of Highland. He worked in orange groves as a youth, served in the Air Force during the Korean War and then received a bachelor’s degree, with honors, in political science from UC Riverside in 1955. He also served as the university’s first student body president.

He went on to receive his master’s and Ph.D. degrees in political science from UCLA. While in the Ph.D. program, he worked for Clark Kerr, then the president of the UC system, on the California Master Plan for Higher Education.

Young began his UCLA career by serving in a series of executive posts in the administration of Chancellor Franklin D. Murphy: assistant to the chancellor (1960-62), assistant chancellor (1962-63) and vice chancellor for administration (1963-68). He also became a full professor in the political science department.

After Murphy resigned, he was named his successor by the UC Board of Regents on June 12, 1968, thereby becoming, at the age of 36, the nation’s youngest head of a major university.

His first wife, Sue, died in 2001. They had two children — Charles Young Jr. and Elizabeth Young-Apstein, who died in 2006. He married his second wife, Judy, in 2002.

“We were so lucky to come to a community here in Sonoma where we were able to establish close friendships, as we had in Los Angeles,” Judy said.

Two of their closest friends are Sonoma residents Les and Judy Vadasz. Chuck met Leslie more than 50 years ago when they both served on Intel’s board of directors.

“I appreciated his work with the board,” Les said. “During the time he was on the board, Intel grew from a startup to one of the most important companies. Where there was a need, Chuck was willing to help.”

Chuck and Les reunited in Sonoma in 2012 and along with their wives, enjoyed good times together, both in Sonoma and as travel companions.

The Young couple also loved visiting with family members and going to wineries. And unbeknownst to almost everyone, Chuck was a founding member of a somewhat secret group, the Happy Dawg Debating Society. It met each Friday at Happy Dog restaurant at Highway 12 and Verano Avenue in Sonoma until it closed in 2020.

The group also included Vadasz, Joe Aaron and Stephen Kyle.

“Members debated the ills of the world,” said Aaron, a venture capitalist who lives in Sonoma. “Since Happy Dog closed, every fine-dining facility in Sonoma that offers hot dogs on the menu has hosted the Happy Dawg Debating Society. The most underrated hot dog was at Train Town and the Doggery at Friedman’s was Chuck’s favorite.

“Whenever we were solving the ills of the world and Chuck landed a winning debate line, he would break out in song. That would frustrate his Happy Dawg Debating Society opponents because the singing attracted the attention of our fellow diners. You had lost if Chuck broke out in song.”

In addition to his wife, Judy, son, Chuck, and stepdaughter Lisa Rendic, Young is survived by seven grandchildren; two step-grandchildren; and nine great-grandchildren.

UCLA plans to organize a memorial service for Young in the coming months to celebrate his life and legacy. In lieu of flowers, his family requests those interested to submit donations to the Sonoma Valley Education Foundation and the Charles E. Young Research Library, c/o the UCLA Foundation.

Reach the reporter, Dan Johnson, at daniel.johnson@sonomanews.com.