Stanford lost one of its most influential alums and donors on July 28, when Melvin B. Lane ‘44 passed away due to complications from Parkinson’s disease at the age of 85.

The Lane family name resonates across campus, from the Bill Lane Center for the Study of the North American West to Green Library’s Lane Reading Room. The latter, featuring never-ending bookshelves and comfortable leather chairs, honors Mel Lane and his wife Joan for their support of the library’s reconstruction following the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake.

Born in 1922 in Des Moines, Iowa, Lane moved to San Francisco six years later after his father purchased Sunset magazine. He was educated at Palo Alto High School, then attended Pomona College before transferring to Stanford, where he graduated with a bachelor’s degree in economics.

After serving in the U.S. Navy during World War II, Lane began working at his father’s magazine with his brother, Bill Lane ‘42.

The elder Lane described his brother as “warm,” “easy to communicate with,” and “compassionate.” The two had a lifetime of shared interests, from Pomona to Stanford, the Navy and Sunset magazine.

“We were both referred to as ‘peas in a pod’ by people who knew us equally well,” Lane said. “We had the same goals but different personalities and responsibilities.”

“When we sold Sunset [to Time Warner in 1990], people thought we would go our separate ways, but we took offices right next to each other with an adjoining conference room,” he added. “Through our whole life together, I always considered Mel my best friend.”

After he and his brother sold the magazine, Mel Lane went on to serve as a member of the University’s Board of Trustees. Most notably, he was active in the Memorial Church rebuilding efforts after the 1989 earthquake.

Renowned for his dedication to the environment, Lane also served as chairman of the California Coastal Commission — a position to which he was appointed in 1972 by then Gov. Ronald Reagan — and the San Francisco Bay Conservation and Development Commission. In addition, he played a key role in funding and supporting environmental initiatives at Stanford.

“He was in many ways instrumental in helping to develop current environmental institutions, especially in California,” said Buzz Thompson ‘73, director of the Woods Institute for the Environment.

Thompson and Lane worked closely together on environmental issues and the advisory council for the Woods Institute, and Thompson said that Lane demonstrated a remarkable capacity for engendering cooperation.

“He really stepped in and created environmental management agencies and conservation agencies that were effective and largely trusted by all sides,” Thompson said. “Mel was one of those people who could really bring people together and solve problems, and all this was extremely valuable to us as we were building up the Woods Institute.”

Thompson described Lane as warm, compassionate and giving.

“Mel was somebody who was extremely generous in his advice, in his support and he was one of the smartest minds on environmental issues, but Mel was also somebody who was always quite humble,” he said. “He was a truly lovely man. One of the nicest and most generous people I’ve ever met in my life.”

Lane is survived by his wife, Joan Fletcher Lane, daughters Whitney Miller and Julie Lane Gray, four grandchildren and his brother. There will be a memorial service in his honor at Memorial Church on Sept. 11.