University of North Texas

Editor's Note: This message was e-mailed as an Official Notice.

Sunday, June 9, 2013

Dear UNT faculty and staff members,

It is with great regret that I inform you of the passing of Dr. Alfred F. Hurley, who for 18 years served as UNT’s 12th president, our longest-serving president to date. Dr. Hurley also was the UNT System’s first full-time chancellor. His work at UNT spanned 22 years, from 1980 until his retirement in 2002.

• Read the full obituary by the Hurley family.

The UNT family has experienced a profound loss, and those of you who worked under Dr. Hurley will no doubt feel it on a personal level. I know from many who worked with Dr. Hurley and from my own interactions with him that he believed passionately in UNT and cared deeply for its people. A former regent once said of him, “Al lives and breathes the university.”

Dr. Hurley personified all that is good about UNT — always putting in a hard day’s work, always demanding excellence, and always pushing onward and upward. His impact can be felt in every part of our university and it will far outlive the time that we had with him.

I hope you will take a few minutes to read about Dr. Hurley’s legacy. So much of what he set in motion during his 22 years is still driving our progress and our future today.

We will honor Dr. Hurley with a time of quiet reflection at Goolsby Chapel, where the campus community also can express written condolences to his family. Please make use of this service as we support one another and celebrate the life of this exceptional leader and man who has done so much for UNT.

Sincerely,

V. Lane Rawlins
UNT President