SAN FRANCISCO — A University of California chancellor died Saturday in an apparent suicide jump from a 43-story apartment building on Saturday, authorities said. Denice Dee Denton, 46, the chancellor of the Santa Cruz campus, apparently jumped from an undisclosed section of the Paramount luxury apartment building around 8 a.m. and landed on a parking garage, police and university officials said. The Medical Examiner's office and a university spokesman confirmed her death, though the cause was still under investigation.| "Hmmm... 43 stories, concrete parking lot... Legume, I suspect poison!" |
Denton recently was criticized for demanding expensive remodeling to her campus home and for helping her partner secure a top-paying university position. In March, she defended $600,000 worth of renovations to her campus home she demanded during contract negotiations before being hired in 2004. Campus employees criticized the expenditures as lavish while the university raised fees and cut budgets.