UNL official killed in I-80 crash

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By MARGARET REIST / Lincoln Journal Star

Kent Hendrickson loved books. He loved baseball. And he loved his job.

He was en route there Tuesday morning — to the University of Nebraska-Lincoln — when his 1999 Saab apparently hit a patch of ice, crossed the median and collided with a westbound car near the Waverly interchange on Interstate 80.  

He died later at BryanLGH Medical Center West.

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Kent Hendrickson

Kent Hendrickson

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Barbara Couture on Kent Hendrickson

This is audio from a University of Nebraska-Lincoln press conference with Senior Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs following the death of UNL Assoc...

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The driver of the eastbound 2002 Audi – Marcos Vazquez, 24, of Las Vegas – and a passenger were treated for minor injuries at the hospital and released, said Deb Collins, spokeswoman for the Nebraska State Patrol.

Word spread quickly to UNL, where the 68-year-old associate vice chancellor of information services oversaw a burgeoning campuswide computer network.  

“We’re shocked and saddened,” said Barbara Couture, senior vice chancellor of academic affairs. “It’s been a difficult day for us.”

Hendrickson had been associate vice chancellor for the past 13 years, a time of dramatic technological change.

“Kent was here when the Internet took over,” Couture said.

In 1995, there were just 75 users of the emerging campuswide computing network. Now, the entire campus — more than 5,000 employees and 22,000 students — are on the network.

Hendrickson oversaw a $20 million budget and 125 employees.

During his tenure, UNL was a lead institution in the development of Internet 2, a high-speed network dedicated to research and education. It launched the Research Computing Facility and purchased supercomputers PrairieFire and Red. And Information Services was a leader in supporting classroom technology and multimedia teaching efforts.

“Kent was here to shepherd us through making decisions about all of those things and working with the NU system on those decisions, as well,” Couture said.

His attention to security of the system made it almost a non-issue, she said.

But Hendrickson will be remembered most for his caring nature — for his employees and the students.

“He cared a great deal about the university and really loved the students,” Couture said.

University officials notified faculty and staff about Hendrickson’s death with an e-mail late Tuesday morning.

“Our thoughts and best wishes go out to his family, loved ones and friends, and his co-workers and staff,” UNL Chancellor Harvey Perlman said in the e-mail. “We will do our best to provide support for his staff as they deal with this loss. Kent was a valued colleague and a great asset to this university, and we are really going to miss him."

Gary Aerts, director of enterprise information solutions in Information Services, said Hendrickson was a true professional.

“Information Services has lost an amazing boss,” he said. “But most of all, I've lost a treasured friend.”

Christine Jackson, vice chancellor for business and finance, said it was apparent to everyone at the university that Hendrickson loved UNL.

“He was especially good at working with groups and coalitions and was very good at getting people to work together.”

Working with people was the real joy of his job, said his partner Jeanne Lisec.

“More than anything, he enjoyed managing people and seeing them coming into their own ... helping them realize how capable they were,” she said.

He enjoyed the challenge of technology, but one of his true loves was books, especially mysteries, Lisec said.

“He’d just loved books for as far back as he can remember,” she said.

That love led him to earn a bachelor’s degree in library science from Iowa State University in 1961 and a master’s from Michigan State University in 1964.

He grew up in Iowa on a farm, but books led him away from running the family farm, Lisec said.

From 1964-70, he was associate director for technical services for UNL Libraries. From 1970-82, he worked in the private sector in Oregon. He joined the University of Arizona in 1982 in library services.

Before accepting the chancellor position at UNL, Hendrickson was dean of libraries there for 10 years.

And while he loved books, he also loved baseball. The Giants were his team, a family tradition.

“His father had rooted for the team,” Lisec said. “His brother and he carried on the tradition.”

And he was passing the tradition on, tossing a baseball to Lisec’s 1-year-old grandson.

Hendrickson is survived by two grown children – a son, Justin, and daughter, Susan – as well as a daughter-in-law Jennifer and grandson Russell. They live in Portland, Ore.

Hendrickson had been making the commute from Omaha to Lincoln since he and Lisec bought a home there in the late 1990s.

Couture said university officials have been talking with family members about having a memorial on campus. Because his absence there will leave a void.

“You think sometimes of technology services as being a bit inhuman and impersonal,” Couture said. “Kent gave them a human face.”

Reach Margaret Reist at 473-7226 or mreist@journalstar.com.