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An underlying medical condition may have contributed to the death of former Utah State University President Kermit Hall while swimming in the ocean off the coast of South Carolina.
According to The Associated Press, Hall and his wife were swimming at the resort island of Hilton Head when he told her they were out too far and he was heading back. He then began yelling for help before being pulled from the water Sunday afternoon. Phyllis Hall told police her husband had a "minor history of heart problems" but that the only medication he took Sunday was for his thyroid.
An autopsy is pending.
According to a police report of the incident, the Halls were 75 to 100 yards from shore when Kermit Hall told his wife they should return to shore. They were swimming back when he started yelling for help and waving his arms. Phyllis Hall swam to shore to get help. When she looked back, she saw him floating face down.
Hall, 61, was pronounced dead Sunday around 3 p.m. (EDT) at Hilton Head Regional Medical Center.
Authorities in the Beaufort County, S.C., Sheriff's Office, citing privacy law, declined a request from the The Salt Lake Tribune for additional details about Hall's death. But sheriff's Capt. Robert Bromage told the AP the death doesn't appear suspicious.
"By reports, it wasn't over his head. You could stand on the bottom where he was," Bromage said. ''It could have been something medical."
The Halls have a vacation home in Hilton Head.
Hall was USU's president for four years, leaving Utah in 2004 after being named president of State University of New York at Albany. The news of his death shocked USU faculty, staff and students as well as others in the state's higher education community.
But while they mourn Hall's death, USU administrators said there will be no formal memorial service. "We have lots of people who are grieving but a [memorial service] is more appropriate at the university at Albany," USU spokesman John DeVilbiss said Monday. "We don't want to detract from what they're doing."
Hall was USU's 14th president and during his tenure, the retention rate for USU first-year students rose from 61 to 75 percent. Hall, who had no children of his own, regularly helped new students move into their dorms. And Hall declined a formal presidential inauguration, instead directing that money, along with a $10,000 personal donation, into a scholarship fund. The fund today is valued at more than $1 million, DeVilbiss said.
USU President Stan Albrecht remembers Hall as an extraordinary leader, mentor and friend.
"I learned a great deal from [Hall] and I enjoyed working with him," Albrecht said. "My love and condolences go out to his wife, Phyllis, and the entire State University of New York family."
While USU will hold no formal memorial service for former President Kermit Hall, the school will pay tribute in other ways:
l A blue light, the school's color, shines in the Logan Campus' Old Main Tower instead of the usual white.
l An Internet link is available for Utahns to send condolences and remembrances to Hall's spouse, Phyllis, on the USU Web site, http://www.usu.edu.
* Contributions can be made in Hall's name to a student scholarship fund he established by declining a traditional presidential inauguration and using that money plus donating $10,000 of his own.
Hall tribute
While USU will hold no formal memorial service for former President Kermit Hall, the school will pay tribute in other ways:
l A blue light, the school's color, shines in the Logan Campus' Old Main Tower instead of the usual white.
l An Internet link is available for Utahns to send condolences and remembrances to Hall's spouse, Phyllis, on the USU Web site, http://www.usu.edu.
l Contributions can be made in Hall's name to a student scholarship fund he established by declining a traditional presidential inauguration and using that money plus donating $10,000 of his own.