University of Chicago chancellor Robert Zimmer steps down for health reasons

University of Chicago chancellor Robert Zimmer, a mathematician and longtime administrator at the school, is leaving his post to attend to his health, the university has announced.

Zimmer became chancellor last year. Prior to that, he was the university’s president for 15 years.

David Rubenstein, chair of the board of trustees, said in a statement released last week that for two years Zimmer has been dealing with glioblastoma, an aggressive form of cancer that strikes the brain or spinal cord.

Zimmer will become chancellor emeritus “in order to focus his energies principally on his health needs going forward,” Rubenstein said.

He was the first of two of the area’s leading college administrators to leave their posts for health reasons in recent days. On Monday, Northwestern University’s President-elect Rebecca Blank announced she would not be able to take the job after being diagnosed with an aggressive form of cancer.

Blank, who spent eight years as chancellor of the University of Wisconsin at Madison, had been named as the school’s 17th president and the first woman to lead Northwestern. Current president Morton Schapiro has been asked to stay on while the search for his successor resumes.

Blank said she plans to return to the Madison area for cancer treatment and will spend the coming months focusing on her health and family.