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Gerald R. Sherratt, a former Cedar City mayor who helped bolster its reputation as "Festival City, USA," and a former Southern Utah University president who saved the school when it was withering, died Friday at age 84.

Community members mourned the loss on social media as the weekend began, acknowledging Sherratt's vital impact on the university and the southwestern Utah city of 30,000.

Current Mayor Maile Wilson said Saturday "you really can't find much that doesn't have [Sherratt's] fingerprints on it."

"[He] was one that could take an idea, no matter how crazy or outlandish it would seem, and get people excited and want to be involved," she added. "He made you feel like you were part of something bigger than himself; not many leaders could get people engaged like he could."

Sherratt never married, but was someone who made the whole community feel like family.

Born Nov. 6, 1931, in Inglewood, Calif., Sherratt graduated in 1949 from Cedar City High, where he was named "Man of the Year." He later attended what is now SUU as a student and returned as president.

Sherratt served as president of Southern Utah University beginning in 1982 after a stint as vice president of university relations at Utah State University. He was charged with boosting the student body — which then consisted of about 1,800 students — or the Cedar City school would merge with what was then Dixie State College in St. George.

He set to work by focusing on teaching.

"The faculty needed to know their field as teachers as opposed to researchers," Sherratt told The Salt Lake Tribune in a 2006 profile by former staffer Mark Havnes. "The classes are smaller, and teachers establish a closeness with students. Many teachers would get together with their students for dinner. That kind of rapport is important."

Sherratt helped the school achieve university status, according to SUU's website, and saw the number of students swell to more than 5,500 during his tenure. Additionally, the school constructed 16 buildings, and the athletic program achieved NCAA Division I status under his administration, which lasted until 1997.

Several years later, Sherratt ran for mayor because, first, he wanted to give back to the community and, second, he grew bored in retirement.

"I figured out the plot of 'One Life to Live,' so decided I had to do something," he joked.

As a two-term mayor, he helped launch the Utah Summer Games and land a new airport, rail service and Interstate 15 access to lure businesses.

Sherratt had also founded the Festival of the American West while at USU and wrote the pageant "The West: An American Odyssey," which ran for decades.

He even concocted an April Fools' Day festival while serving as Cedar City's mayor, based upon a fable he dreamed up about a lost colony of Vikings being swept by a tidal wave into the mountains just east of town.

Sherratt had "an incredible imagination and creativity," Larry Baker, who worked with Sherratt for 38 years, told The Tribune in 2006. "He's always thinking and inspires others to buy into his vision."

Sherratt even won over his competitors, like state Sen. Evan Vickers, who ran against him for mayor in 2001.

"He brought a lot to the table and increased the profile of the city," Vickers said in 2006. "In a way, I won by losing."

mnoble@sltrib.com

Twitter: @mnoblenews