Ralph Dungan, part of President John F. Kennedy’s White House inner circle, died Oct. 5, 2013. He was 90.
Following Navy service, Dungan graduated in 1950 from St. Joseph’s College in Philadelphia. He then earned an M.P.A. from Princeton’s Woodrow Wilson School in 1952. After five years at the U.S. Bureau of the Budget, he was a legislative assistant for Sen. Kennedy from 1957 to 1960.
In 1960, Dungan worked for the senator’s presidential campaign, and from 1961 to 1963 was a special assistant to President Kennedy. After Kennedy’s assassination, Dungan worked for President Lyndon B. Johnson on Latin American affairs. In late 1964, Johnson appointed Dungan U.S. ambassador to Chile.
He was ambassador for three years, supporting the progressive policies on land reform and income distribution of Chilean president Eduardo Frei.
In 1967, Dungan was appointed New Jersey’s chancellor of higher education. He served for 10 years, and the state-supported system of undergraduate enrollment reportedly tripled to 120,000. Dungan battled labor unions, students, and administrators over job cuts, salaries, tuition, and control. Over the next decade, he worked on Latin American and Caribbean development projects.
Dungan is survived by his wife, Judith Briggs; seven children from his marriage to the late Mary Rowley; eight grandchildren; and one great-granddaughter.
Graduate memorials are prepared by the APGA.