Former U of U President David P. Gardner Dies

(Salt Lake City, UT) — Former University of Utah President David P. Gardner has died. The university announced yesterday that Gardner died Tuesday at his home in Park City. He was 90. Gardner served as president of the U from 1973 to 1983, more than doubling its budget and significantly raising faculty salaries. He’s credited with making the school into one of the nation’s top research universities. Doctors at the U’s hospital implanted the first artificial heart in a patient in 1982. Gardner will be honored in a memorial service next Friday in Gardner Hall, which is named for him.