Former UF President Ben Sasse announced his terminal cancer diagnosis on social media this morning. The post was met with an outpouring of sympathy from former and current colleagues from the U.S. Senate and UF administration, along with other top politicians and public figures.
In his initial, lengthy X post, Sasse shared he was diagnosed with stage 4 pancreatic cancer, declaring within the first paragraph he was, “gonna die.”
The 53-year-old was inaugurated as UF president in February 2023 but resigned in July 2024 after just a year and a half in office, citing his wife, Melissa Sasse’s, epilepsy diagnosis. Prior to his career in higher education, he represented Nebraska as a U.S. senator from 2015 to 2023.
Sasse still lives in Gainesville, where he serves as a professor in UF’s Hamilton School for Classical and Civic Education. He and his wife have three children, the youngest of whom is 14.
UF Board of Trustees Chair Mori Hosseini and UF Interim President Donald Landry released a statement extending their thoughts and prayers to Sasse and his family.
“This was staggering news,” the statement said. “And yet, true to his character, Ben’s first instinct is to give comfort and reassurance to those of us who have known and admired him.”
Board of Trustees and Interim President Donald Landry
U.S. Vice President JD Vance
Former U.S. Senator Mitt Romney
Former U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo
Speaker Mike Johnson
U.S. Representative Debbie Wasserman Schultz
U.S. Senator Ashley Moody
U.S. Senator Rick Scott
Florida Commissioner of Education Anastasios Kamoutsas
Gainesville City Commissioner Bryan Eastman
NPR journalist Steve Inskeep
California governor Gavin Newsom
U.S. Senator Deb Fischer
Alan Levine, vice chair of the State University System’s Board of Governors
Nebraska Governor Jim Pillen
U.S. Senator John Fetterman
U.S. Senator Bill Nelson
U.S. Representative Jared Moskowitz
U.S. Senator Tim Scott
Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer
Senate majority leader John Thune
U.S. Senator John Kennedy
Forward Party founder Andrew Yang
