NorthwestFebruary 12, 2004

Associated Press

SEATTLE -- Charles A. (Chuck) Kane, a basketball coach and educator who brought together the three Seattle community colleges and raised $20 million for scholarships, is dead at 72.

Kane died Monday in Riverside, Calif., after a long fight with prostate cancer, Seattle Community Colleges officials said.

A native of Bozeman, Mont., he grew up in Riverside, won a basketball scholarship to Pepperdine University and was elected student body president before graduating in 1954.

Kane served in the army after earning a doctorate in education administration from the University of Southern California, and then became basketball coach at Long Beach, Calif., City College.

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He returned to Riverside as superintendent and president of Riverside Community College, and then in 1992 was hired as chancellor of Seattle Community Colleges.

Former vice chancellor Constance Rice said Kane labored to end the infighting between South Seattle, North Seattle and Seattle Central community colleges, and then used the newfound teamwork to raise more than $20 million for scholarships.

"Everyone is now pulling their resources for the whole of the system rather than their own campus," Rice said.

After being diagnosed with prostate cancer, Kane retired to Riverside in 1999 to take care of his mother.

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