Elizabeth Lovelace Lucas, UNC alumna and long-time employee of the University, died May 19 from complications resulting from acute myeloid leukemia. She was 38.
Lucas graduated from UNC in 1985 with a degree in journalism. She worked as a writer and editor at The Daily Tar Heel as a student.
After graduation, she worked for area newspapers and then returned to the University in 1989 as academic affairs editor at UNC News Services.
She moved to the chancellor's office in 1997 and worked for three chancellors, first as an assistant and then as a speechwriter.
Chancellor James Moeser called Lucas "wonderful, warm and very knowledgeable," and said Lucas played a fundamental role in introducing new chancellors to the University.
"She was an enormous help to me, especially when I first came here," he said. "When I was new, she walked me to where I needed to be because I didn't know where I was going."
Moeser said that as the senior speechwriter Lucas not only helped him with formal speeches but also with informal speaking.
He said that she often gave him talking points before he addressed groups like the Employee Forum or Faculty Council and that she did the preparation necessary for his speeches to visiting groups at the University.
"She did the research so I could go and be prepared and sound intelligent," he said.
