Chronology

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1. Recent decades · 1976–2026

2. 1986–1997
   Appointment, election or service · UNC System offices, Chapel Hill C. D. Spangler Jr. serves as president of the UNC System

   Spangler, a Charlotte businessman and 1954 graduate of the university, succeeded William Friday in 1986 and led the sixteen-campus system for eleven years from its offices in Chapel Hill, fighting to keep tuition low and reforming intercollegiate athletics.

3. October 12, 2012
   Life event · Chapel Hill William C. Friday dies at his Chapel Hill home

   Friday, president of the University of North Carolina from 1956 to 1986 and a longtime Chapel Hill resident, died in his sleep at home on October 12, 2012, at 92.

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A dated event is a fact, filed on the page of the subject it belongs to: a person, a place, a theme, or a named event or history. Pages are subjects, with their own works and sources; the Place, community, or institution filter also gathers the institutions that recur in the entries without a page of their own. The page opens on the highlights; a search or any filter looks through every dated event and storyline, and each filter’s counts say how many entries choosing it would show alongside the others. A storyline is a longer history that gathers related dated events, and each storyline’s page lists its own. Counts give dated events and storylines separately. Dates come from the sources named on the cards and from the index’s event pages; where sources disagree, the card follows the county records. Entries marked approximate or needing research say so on the card; the rest were checked against the source named on it. The correction link under the entries opens the contact form; name the entry and its date and the Friends will check the source. Suggest an event →

Compiled and maintained by the Friends of the Orange County Public Library from county records, the sources named on each card, and the index’s event pages. Last updated October 4, 2026.