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Ben Sasse, a former Republican senator who represented Nebraska for eight years, said he will resign as University of Florida president at the end of this month to spend more time with his wife, who has been struggling with medical issues.
“In recent months, Melissa has been diagnosed with epilepsy and has been struggling with a new batch of memory issues,” he said Thursday in a statement. “It’s been hard, but we’ve faced it together.”
Sasse was appointed president in November 2022 and took office in February 2023. The university said its board of trustees will announce an interim president and start the search for a new president.
Sasse detailed his wife’s recovery from past medical conditions, including an aneurysm and series of strokes in 2007, calling her “the strongest person I know” and a “warrior.” But, he said in his statement, her recent diagnosis has led to “a lot of late nights, a lot of hard decisions, and a lotta ‘what matters most?’ conversations.”
Sasse, 52, said that his duties to his family and the university “are significantly at odds with each other right now.”
“Gator Nation needs a president who can keep charging hard, Melissa deserves a husband who can pull his weight, and my kids need a dad who can be home many more nights,” he said.
The couple has three children, two college-aged and one turning 13, Sasse said in his statement. He was in the Senate from 2015 to 2023.
As a senator, Sasse reliably sided with Trump-backed bills, but he was a vocal critic of the former president, whom he once called “needy and desperate.” He was one of seven Republicans who voted to impeach former President Donald Trump in the Senate over the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol.
Sasse’s appointment at UF was not without controversy. His opposition to same-sex marriage in 2015 came under scrutiny, and critics said the selection process was not transparent enough.
Yet he couldn’t stay away from politics as university president. In September, The New York Times reported on Sasse serving as a "combatant" in Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis' war on public education. In March, the university ended all positions focused on diversity, equity and inclusion, as well as DEI-related contracts.