Deane W. Malott, Cornell president from 1951 to 1963, passed away on Wednesday, Sept. 11, at his home in Ithaca, N.Y. He was 98.

Malott became Cornell's sixth president in 1951. He presided over a period of rapid expansion of the university in the post--World War II years. Under his direction, Cornell's budget grew from $42 million at the start of his tenure to $110 million, faculty salaries increased by more than 60 percent, and growth in sponsored research grew from less than $15 million to more than $45 million annually.

Hunter Rawlings, president of Cornell, said, "Deane Malott will be remembered by some as a builder of buildings -- for teaching, for research, for student housing, and other pressing needs -- which literally transformed the Cornell campus during his presidency. But he will be remembered far longer as the builder of the intellectual landscape that characterizes Cornell today. I feel privileged to have known Deane Malott, even though for all too brief a time, and I was delighted that he was a part of my inaugural ceremonies last October."

Cornell President Emeritus Frank H. T. Rhodes, Rawlings' predecessor, said, "Deane Malott was one of Cornell's greatest presidents. He brought new energy, new vision, and new support to the university in every area of its life and work, and he did it with a sense of humor and grace that won friends far and wide. In all this, his late wife Eleanor was an energetic and devoted partner. Cornell has lost a champion, and many Cornellians have lost a wise counselor and a treasured friend."

Prior to coming to Cornell, Malott was chancellor at the University of Kansas for 12 years. His earlier career included teaching and administrative responsibilities at the Harvard Graduate School of Business Administration, and a business career as a personal assistant to James Dole, founder of the Dole Pineapple Co.

Malott served on the board of directors of Pitney-Bowes, the B.F. Goodrich Co., General Mills, Inc., Owens-Corning Fiberglass, Lane Bryant, Inc., the Citizens Bank of Abilene, Kan., and the First National Bank of Ithaca. He was a trustee of the Midwest Research Institute, the Teagle Foundation, and the Corning Museum, a member of the Business Council and a consultant to the Association of American Colleges. He served under Presidents Truman, Eisenhower and Johnson on a number of commissions and boards.

Deane Waldo Malott was born July 10, 1898, in Abilene, Kan. He received a bachelor's degree from the University of Kansas in 1921 and a master's degree from Harvard Business School in 1923. His father, M.H. Malott, known as the "dean of Kansas bankers," was founder and board chairman of the Citizens Bank in Abilene.

His wife, the former Eleanor Sisson Thrum, died in 1994. He is survived by three children: Robert H. Malott of Kenilworth, Ill.; Janet Malott Elliott, of Ocala, Fla.; Edith Malott LaBonte, of Palo Alto, Calif.; nine grandchildren and nine great-grandchildren.

The date of a memorial service has not yet been determined.