James ‘Jim’ Rhatigan. Photo courtesy of Wichita State University.

James Rhatigan, Wichita State’s former dean of students and senior vice president of Student Affairs, died Sunday morning after being admitted to hospice two days prior.

At 30 years old, Rhatigan assumed the role of dean of students in 1965, making him the youngest in the country to hold the position. Rhatigan was later named vice president of Student Affairs and worked at WSU for nearly five decades.

After retiring as senior vice president in 2002, Rhatigan served as a consultant to the Wichita State Foundation until 2014.

According to a Letter to the Editor by then-Student Body President Matt Conklin, Rhatigan was “an exemplar of virtue and character” and someone happy to share “innumerable lessons and words of wisdom.”

Conklin referred to Rhatigan, the namesake of the Rhatigan Student Center, as the “grandfather of the student affairs profession.”

In the same letter, Conklin said Rhatigan wished to be remembered for “doing the right things, that will become part of a future culture.”