Dr. Marc E. Hall, a veteran community college administrator who led Cosumnes River College as president during unprecedented growth, died Friday. He was 72.

He died after collapsing at his Carmichael home, said his wife, Cherylee. He was in good health and had returned recently from a mission to Ukraine with the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, she said.

Dr. Hall was widely credited with raising the community profile of Cosumnes River College, which opened in 1970 as a lonely campus among cow pastures in the Valley Hi area. He was executive vice chancellor of Los Rios Community College District when he was named interim CRC president in 1984. His appointment was made permanent within two years.

Under his leadership, CRC grew from 5,300 students to more than 12,000 as development took off in nearby Laguna and Elk Grove. He oversaw construction of major facilities, including classrooms, a student services center, cafeteria and gymnasium.

He built partnerships with Ford Motor Co. and other businesses that bolstered CRC's vocational programs. Meanwhile, he oversaw satellite centers in Folsom and El Dorado County and installed portable buildings in Folsom that eventually became the Los Rios district's fourth campus, Folsom Lake College.

"He had a vision and stuck to it," said Gary Straus, former CRC vice president. "Sometimes it wasn't the most popular thing. But you could always count on him to do what he said, and that earned the respect of a lot of people."

Dr. Hall joined Los Rios as a business analyst in 1972. He was director of management and planning services before reaching the No. 2 position as executive vice chancellor.

His early roles included representing the district in contract talks with the Los Rios College Federation of Teachers. He devised and helped persuade the faculty union to accept a salary formula that has resulted in higher pay during good years and less pay – instead of layoffs – during lean times, said Patrick Kirklin, former union president.

"It brought about labor peace," said Kirklin, who later served under Dr. Hall as dean of CRC's El Dorado Center. "He deserves all the credit. It was his idea."

Dr. Hall also was a leader in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, including serving as bishop of the Del Campo Ward and president of the Carmichael Stake. After retiring from CRC in 1995, he and his wife traveled on church missions in Poland, Russia, Thailand and Ukraine.

Marc Earl Hall was born in 1939 in Driggs, Idaho. He graduated from Brigham Young University in Utah and earned a master's degree and a doctorate in education finance from University of California, Berkeley.

He taught at a Bay Area business college before moving to Sacramento. He had six children with his wife of 50 years.

As a college administrator and a church missionary, Dr. Hall "was very much focused on helping people help themselves," said his son, Marc. "He wanted to help them build better futures."

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