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By Rosemary Pollock
Long-time Salt Lake Community College President Jay L. Nelson Dies
SALT LAKE CITY, UTAH -- Jay L. Nelson, 88, President of Salt Lake
Community College from 1949-1978, died Tuesday at his Salt Lake City
home. Nelson was an advocate for vocational training and was
instrumental in the growth of the Salt Lake Area Vocational School
becoming the Salt Lake Community College, now the fourth largest
state-assisted college in the state. Honored at his retirement in
1978 for "unfaltering enthusiasm for quality, accountable and
employable education," Nelson believed that applied technology in
education was essential to keeping Utah in the mainstream of economic
progress.
He wrote "The First Thirty Years," a book that detailed the history
of Salt Lake Community College. Nelson was born in Brigham City and
graduated from Brigham Young University. He did postgraduate work at
BYU and the University of Southern California. He served as the
fiscal director for the war production program during World War II.
He was a lieutenant in the Army and a lieutenant colonel in the Army
Reserve. Nelson was commended by former President Gerald Ford for
"perseverance and the ability to adapt to change so as to meet the
most current needs of students and of the business and industrial
community."
Nelson was an active member of The Church of Jesus Christ of
Latter-day Saints and served the community in many scouting,
professional, civic, educational and arts organizations. He married
Afton May Hansen on June 2, 1937 in the Salt Lake Temple. After her
death in 1981, Nelson married Roslyn Peterson on January 1, 1983.
Sources:
Ex-SLCC president J. Nelson dies at 88
Deseret News 27Jun01 P2
Jay L. Nelson
Salt Lake Tribune 27Jun01 P2
Former Utah College President Nelson Dies
Salt Lake Tribune 27Jun01 P2
By Ashley Estes
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