Former Univ. of Miami AD PAUL DEE passed away Saturday night at the age of 65 "after a recurrence of tongue cancer,” according to Michelle Kaufman of the MIAMI HERALD. Dee “presided over the Hurricanes athletic department with passion and patience" from '93-'08. He had served as the school’s General Counsel “for 12 years prior to becoming athletic director and stayed as a professor in the School of Education and Human Development during the past four years,” and was “due to retire on June 1.” Dee had “noticed a lump on his tongue a month ago, the cancer was aggressive and had spread, and he underwent surgery Monday.” He was “sedated all week and took a turn for the worse on Saturday.” Kaufman notes UM “won three team national titles during Dee’s tenure and the department benefited from more than $80 million in facility improvements, including the long-awaited $52 million on-campus basketball arena.” Funeral arrangements are pending, but tentatively set for Thursday morning at 10:00am ET at St. Augustine Church in Coral Gables, with a "reception to follow at the Newman Alumni Center on the UM campus” (MIAMI HERALD, 5/14). In West Palm Beach, Jorge Milian notes Dee’s “first order of business was to clean up a football program muddied by an NCAA investigation that led to harsh penalties and resulted in a famous 1995 Sports Illustrated cover story urging the school to drop football.” Former UM Senior Associate AD LARRY WAHL said that Dee is “among the most important figures in the university's sports history” (PALM BEACH POST, 5/14).
