The death of famed educator Clark Kerr last December evoked tributes and testimonials everywhere from the "New York Times" to local faculty bulletins. Architect of California's famous Master Plan of 1960, skilled labor mediator, first president of the University of California system, bete noir of the early student movement, and chair of the distinguished Carnegie Commission on the Future of Higher Education, Kerr captured the diverse impulses of his times with rare thoroughness while clearly defining the key questions facing American higher education. This article is offered by the author as one step toward a faculty perspective on Kerr's legacy from someone who has long been interested in his trajectory--from his brilliant, early economic articles, through his leadership of the University of California (and authorization of the author's arrest during the free speech movement), up to his late recognition of the growing crisis of his cherished university.