Sauder graduated from the University of British Columbia in 1948, where he was a member of the Phi Delta Theta fraternity, with a Bachelor of Commerce degree, and later returned to the University of British Columbia as a member of the Board of Governors.
He was ultimately appointed Chair of the Board, and later elected Chancellor, a position he held from 1996 to 2002. He was awarded an honorary Doctor of Laws degree by University of British Columbia in 1990. On June 5, 2003, Sauder donated a $20 million endowment and the University of British Columbia"s Faculty of Commerce and Business Administration which was subsequently renamed the Sauder School of Business.
His gift of $20 million was the largest single private donation ever made to a Canadian business school at the time.
In 2004, he was awarded the Order of British Columbia. William Sauder died after a brief illness on December 19, 2007.
