The young farm boy who grew up to be the Father of the Tenth Campus of the University of California-Merced, Leo Kolligian passed away peacefully at home. Leo was born to Armenian immigrant parents, Sarkis and Mary Kolligian, and attended schools in Fresno prior to graduating from Fresno State College and Boalt Hall Law School of the University of California, Berkeley. Admitted to the State Bar in 1941, Leo married Dorothy Dottie Ohanian and returned to Fresno and assumed the practice of his late father-in-law, Krikor Ohanian. Prior to that time, he and Dottie lived the first happy years of their marriage in Sacramento where Leo served as Chairman in charge of determining the draft status of U.S. Air Force civilian employees in the nine western states and Hawaii and, subsequently, as Deputy United States Attorney General.
The culmination of Leo's professional life was his appointment to the University of California Board of Regents by the Governor of California. Leo's appointment marked the first time that a Valley resident had served on this august Board since 1948. Rising quickly by gaining the respect and admiration of his fellow Regents, Leo was elected Chairman of the Board of Regents after serving only three years on the Board; something which had rarely occurred in the history of the Regents. Having retired from his legal practice in 1985, Leo defied the skeptics in his determination to build a tenth UC Campus-one that would be in the San Joaquin Valley-which would serve to validate the long-overlooked importance of the Heartland of California. In 1988, as Chairman of the Board of Regents, Leo introduced a motion which was unanimously passed. The Central Valley, through his dedication, charm and hard work, was, at long last, going to have its own campus of the University of California. To honor the vision put forth by Leo and his wife and partner Dottie, the University bestowed one of its greatest honors on them by naming the Main Library at the new UC Merced the Leo and Dottie Kolligian Library. He was president of the American Cancer Society, Chairman of the Board of Trustees of Saint Agnes Medical Center, served on the Board of the Fresno Metropolitan Museum and was a member of the Board of Trustees of Boalt Hall Law School in Berkeley. He was a charter member of the Sovereign Order of Saint Joan and knighted by Her Majesty, the Queen of Sweden, in New York in 1990. He and his wife Dottie have established educational scholarships at Harvard, Stanford, and the University of California Merced. Leo's life was also dedicated to quality property development projects in Fresno, Madera and Merced Counties. In 1973 he purchased approximately two thousand acres surrounding Woodward Park and was responsible for the annexation of that property to the City of Fresno in 1975-the largest single annexation in the history of the City of Fresno. Today, that property is commonly known as the River Park development and he retained a large ownership interest in these mixed use properties until the time of his passing.
Leo and Dottie had one son, Lee Jay Kolligian, who lives in Pacific Palisades with his wife Maria and their three children, Tyler, Kyle and Kate. Leo's personal life was devoted to his three loving grandchildren whom he adored. In 2002, following the death of his wife Dottie, Leo married June Humphers.
Published in the Fresno Bee
The culmination of Leo's professional life was his appointment to the University of California Board of Regents by the Governor of California. Leo's appointment marked the first time that a Valley resident had served on this august Board since 1948. Rising quickly by gaining the respect and admiration of his fellow Regents, Leo was elected Chairman of the Board of Regents after serving only three years on the Board; something which had rarely occurred in the history of the Regents. Having retired from his legal practice in 1985, Leo defied the skeptics in his determination to build a tenth UC Campus-one that would be in the San Joaquin Valley-which would serve to validate the long-overlooked importance of the Heartland of California. In 1988, as Chairman of the Board of Regents, Leo introduced a motion which was unanimously passed. The Central Valley, through his dedication, charm and hard work, was, at long last, going to have its own campus of the University of California. To honor the vision put forth by Leo and his wife and partner Dottie, the University bestowed one of its greatest honors on them by naming the Main Library at the new UC Merced the Leo and Dottie Kolligian Library. He was president of the American Cancer Society, Chairman of the Board of Trustees of Saint Agnes Medical Center, served on the Board of the Fresno Metropolitan Museum and was a member of the Board of Trustees of Boalt Hall Law School in Berkeley. He was a charter member of the Sovereign Order of Saint Joan and knighted by Her Majesty, the Queen of Sweden, in New York in 1990. He and his wife Dottie have established educational scholarships at Harvard, Stanford, and the University of California Merced. Leo's life was also dedicated to quality property development projects in Fresno, Madera and Merced Counties. In 1973 he purchased approximately two thousand acres surrounding Woodward Park and was responsible for the annexation of that property to the City of Fresno in 1975-the largest single annexation in the history of the City of Fresno. Today, that property is commonly known as the River Park development and he retained a large ownership interest in these mixed use properties until the time of his passing.
Leo and Dottie had one son, Lee Jay Kolligian, who lives in Pacific Palisades with his wife Maria and their three children, Tyler, Kyle and Kate. Leo's personal life was devoted to his three loving grandchildren whom he adored. In 2002, following the death of his wife Dottie, Leo married June Humphers.
Published in the Fresno Bee
The young farm boy who grew up to be the Father of the Tenth Campus of the University of California-Merced, Leo Kolligian passed away peacefully at home. Leo was born to Armenian immigrant parents, Sarkis and Mary Kolligian, and attended schools in Fresno prior to graduating from Fresno State College and Boalt Hall Law School of the University of California, Berkeley. Admitted to the State Bar in 1941, Leo married Dorothy Dottie Ohanian and returned to Fresno and assumed the practice of his late father-in-law, Krikor Ohanian. Prior to that time, he and Dottie lived the first happy years of their marriage in Sacramento where Leo served as Chairman in charge of determining the draft status of U.S. Air Force civilian employees in the nine western states and Hawaii and, subsequently, as Deputy United States Attorney General.
The culmination of Leo's professional life was his appointment to the University of California Board of Regents by the Governor of California. Leo's appointment marked the first time that a Valley resident had served on this august Board since 1948. Rising quickly by gaining the respect and admiration of his fellow Regents, Leo was elected Chairman of the Board of Regents after serving only three years on the Board; something which had rarely occurred in the history of the Regents. Having retired from his legal practice in 1985, Leo defied the skeptics in his determination to build a tenth UC Campus-one that would be in the San Joaquin Valley-which would serve to validate the long-overlooked importance of the Heartland of California. In 1988, as Chairman of the Board of Regents, Leo introduced a motion which was unanimously passed. The Central Valley, through his dedication, charm and hard work, was, at long last, going to have its own campus of the University of California. To honor the vision put forth by Leo and his wife and partner Dottie, the University bestowed one of its greatest honors on them by naming the Main Library at the new UC Merced the Leo and Dottie Kolligian Library. He was president of the American Cancer Society, Chairman of the Board of Trustees of Saint Agnes Medical Center, served on the Board of the Fresno Metropolitan Museum and was a member of the Board of Trustees of Boalt Hall Law School in Berkeley. He was a charter member of the Sovereign Order of Saint Joan and knighted by Her Majesty, the Queen of Sweden, in New York in 1990. He and his wife Dottie have established educational scholarships at Harvard, Stanford, and the University of California Merced. Leo's life was also dedicated to quality property development projects in Fresno, Madera and Merced Counties. In 1973 he purchased approximately two thousand acres surrounding Woodward Park and was responsible for the annexation of that property to the City of Fresno in 1975-the largest single annexation in the history of the City of Fresno. Today, that property is commonly known as the River Park development and he retained a large ownership interest in these mixed use properties until the time of his passing.
Leo and Dottie had one son, Lee Jay Kolligian, who lives in Pacific Palisades with his wife Maria and their three children, Tyler, Kyle and Kate. Leo's personal life was devoted to his three loving grandchildren whom he adored. In 2002, following the death of his wife Dottie, Leo married June Humphers.
Published in the Fresno Bee
The culmination of Leo's professional life was his appointment to the University of California Board of Regents by the Governor of California. Leo's appointment marked the first time that a Valley resident had served on this august Board since 1948. Rising quickly by gaining the respect and admiration of his fellow Regents, Leo was elected Chairman of the Board of Regents after serving only three years on the Board; something which had rarely occurred in the history of the Regents. Having retired from his legal practice in 1985, Leo defied the skeptics in his determination to build a tenth UC Campus-one that would be in the San Joaquin Valley-which would serve to validate the long-overlooked importance of the Heartland of California. In 1988, as Chairman of the Board of Regents, Leo introduced a motion which was unanimously passed. The Central Valley, through his dedication, charm and hard work, was, at long last, going to have its own campus of the University of California. To honor the vision put forth by Leo and his wife and partner Dottie, the University bestowed one of its greatest honors on them by naming the Main Library at the new UC Merced the Leo and Dottie Kolligian Library. He was president of the American Cancer Society, Chairman of the Board of Trustees of Saint Agnes Medical Center, served on the Board of the Fresno Metropolitan Museum and was a member of the Board of Trustees of Boalt Hall Law School in Berkeley. He was a charter member of the Sovereign Order of Saint Joan and knighted by Her Majesty, the Queen of Sweden, in New York in 1990. He and his wife Dottie have established educational scholarships at Harvard, Stanford, and the University of California Merced. Leo's life was also dedicated to quality property development projects in Fresno, Madera and Merced Counties. In 1973 he purchased approximately two thousand acres surrounding Woodward Park and was responsible for the annexation of that property to the City of Fresno in 1975-the largest single annexation in the history of the City of Fresno. Today, that property is commonly known as the River Park development and he retained a large ownership interest in these mixed use properties until the time of his passing.
Leo and Dottie had one son, Lee Jay Kolligian, who lives in Pacific Palisades with his wife Maria and their three children, Tyler, Kyle and Kate. Leo's personal life was devoted to his three loving grandchildren whom he adored. In 2002, following the death of his wife Dottie, Leo married June Humphers.
Published in the Fresno Bee
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