Former UW-Madison Chancellor Rebecca Blank, who was briefly president-elect of Northwestern, dies of cancer

Former University of Wisconsin-Madison Chancellor Rebecca Blank, who had been named president of Northwestern University but was never able to serve, has died of cancer at age 67.

Blank was the chancellor of UW-Madison from 2013 to 2022. In October 2021, she was hired to be the president of Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois. It was a job she was never able to fully take on – in July 2022, she announced she had been diagnosed with an aggressive form of cancer and would be moving back to Madison for treatment.

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An internationally known economist who served as deputy secretary and acting commerce secretary during the Obama administration, Blank was on the faculty in the economics department at Northwestern from 1989 until 1999 and as director of its Joint Center for Poverty Research.

At the time of her appointment, Blank said how excited she was to return to a university and community that was such a big part of the life of her family’s life.

"I served on the Northwestern faculty and was married in Chicago," she said in a statement at the time. "My daughter was born at Evanston Hospital and returned 18 years later to attend Northwestern as a student."

UW-Madison said she died on Friday.