OAKLAND -- Norvel Smith, a pioneering educator who was the first black to head a college in California and the first vice chancellor of a University of California campus, has died. He was 80.

Smith, who headed Merritt College and later served as vice chancellor for student services at the University of California, Berkeley, died of a cancerous brain tumor Saturday at his Oakland home, said his wife, Mary. He was diagnosed with the tumor in September.

A native of Lynchburg, Va., Smith was born Aug. 31, 1924, and grew up in south Philadelphia. During World War II, he served in the Army's all-black 92nd Infantry Division in Italy. After the war, using the benefits of the GI Bill, he attended the University of Pennsylvania, where he earned bachelor's and master's degrees in business administration. (Jon Thurber, Los Angeles Times)