SALEM, Ore. (AP) -- Willamette University educator and former legislator Bryan M. Johnston, who was to start as president of a small Roman Catholic university in Washington State in July died Friday night in his sleep at age 59. No cause of death has been determined.

Saint Martin's University in Lacey, Wash., mourned Johnston's death in a news release.

Senate President Peter Courtney and others praised Johnston as a skilled negotiator and administrator who cared deeply about higher education and human services.

"This is somebody whose vigor and passion and razor-sharp wit and all the things he was known for, it's been a huge part of Salem's culture," said Kristen Grainger, a vice president at Willamette University.

Johnston served as Willamette's interim director in 1997 and 1998. He was associate dean at Willamette's College of Law and dean of its Atkinson Graduate School of Management. He also was a founding faculty member and director of Willamette College of Law's Center for Dispute Resolution.

Johnston earned his law degree from Loyola University and worked at Legal Aid in Chicago.

He also was adjunct professor at the law schools of the University of New Mexico, University of Bridgeport, University of Oregon and Pepperdine University.

He served in the Oregon House from 1995 to 1999. He ran unsuccessfully against state Sen. Jackie Winters, R-Salem, in 2002.

Johnston was interim director of the state Department of Human Services and was brought back to head the department's child welfare division last year.

In December, he mediated an all-day session to decide the fate of 2-year-old Gabriel Allred, who was to be sent to live with his grandmother in Mexico over the objections of his foster parents in Toledo. Gabriel stayed in Oregon.

Dr. Bruce Goldberg, the current director of Human Services, said heading Saint martin's was Johnston's dream job.

He is survived by his wife of 29 years, Anne, and their four children: Drew, 23; Courtney, 22; Zach, 16; and John, 12.