–
“In his five years as president of the University of North Carolina, shy, hardworking Gordon Gray, 46, won both the respect and the admiration of his three campuses. He carried on a $47 million building program, launched new four-year schools of medicine, dentistry and nursing, earnestly tried to make his university ‘the brain, the nerve center, the heart and the conscience and the will of the state.’
–
“But he was a man too much in demand: he was called so often to Washington — as special assistant to President Truman on foreign aid, director of the Psychological Strategy Board, chairman of the board that judged the Oppenheimer case, and now as Assistant Secretary of Defense — that for much of the time he was an absentee landlord. Too few of his colleagues got to know him well, and Gray himself realized the awkwardness of his position.
–
“Last week his trustees regretfully accepted his decision to leave for full-time duty with the Government.”
–
— From Time magazine, November 28, 1955