AUBURN, Ala. (AP) - Former Auburn University president William F. Walker died of complications from cancer this morning. He was 69.

Deedie Dowdle, a university spokeswoman, said the school received word of Walker's death this morning.

Walker was chosen as interim president in 2001 to replace William Muse and was named to the position permanently in June 2002. He resigned 19 months later after growing criticism for his clandestine search for a new football coach.

The Sherman, Texas, native was a professor of mechanical engineering and department chairman at Rice University in Houston from 1965 to 1988, when he became dean of Auburn's College of Engineering in 1988.

Dowdle said Walker and his wife began the William F. and Myrna Walker Family Endowment for Scholarships to help freshmen and sophomores attending the university.

A memorial service will be held at 4 p.m. Friday at the First Presbyterian Church in Auburn.

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