Epps, who died suddenly Tuesday, previously was the law school dean and provost

JoAnne A Epps, the acting president of Temple University, died Tuesday shortly after becoming ill on stage during a memorial service, officials said, describing her loss as a gut punch and struggling through emotion as they recalled her nearly four decades of service.

Epps was attending a memorial service at the university for Charles L Blockson, a curator of a collection of African American artifacts, when she suffered what a doctor speaking at a news conference described as a “sudden episode”.