A longtime UNC-Chapel Hill administrator who led efforts to make sure products bearing the Carolina logo were made under fair working conditions died Tuesday.

Rutledge "Rut" Tufts was 59. He died six days after hitting his head in a fall as he entered the Washington, D.C., apartment he kept while he commuted from Durham to his job as executive director of the nonprofit Fair Labor Association.

"He made many lasting contributions behind the scenes that will continue to benefit students, staff and faculty for many years to come," UNC-CH Chancellor James Moeser said in a statement. "He helped make our licensing and labor code among the nation's very best."

Originally from Atlanta, and with a master's degree from Duke University, Tufts started working at UNC-CH in 1972 in the Student Stores. He later ran the Bull's Head Bookshop, where he expanded the offerings to include writers such as Beat poets Allen Ginsberg and William S. Burroughs, according to the University Gazette, UNC-CH's employee newspaper.

Tufts worked at the bookshop until 1976. By 1985, he had become director of campus merchandising. In 1990, he was named director of auxiliary services.

Students can thank Tufts for the fresh fruit and fast food now available at Lenoir Dining Hall. He led the task force that recommended the hall be shut down and revamped in 1998.

But his major accomplishments had to do with fighting for workers' rights by making sure UNC-CH merchandise wasn't being made with sweatshop labor. Tufts worked with four other schools to hire a nonprofit group to assess international human and labor rights standards of factories where the schools bought merchandise.

He was the only person in the nation to be elected to the boards of both the Workers' Rights Consortium and the Fair Labor Association, according to the Gazette.

In the Gazette, Tufts explained the underlying principle of his work.

"In general, things won't change for the better on their own," he said. "You have to somehow urge them or guide them or push them or cajole them."

In 2001, Tufts received the C. Knox Massey Distinguished Service Award, among the most prestigious honors a UNC-CH employee can receive.

In 2003, he left the university to become executive director of the Fair Labor Association, where he oversaw the organization's day-to-day operations.

"The FLA is a much stronger and more effective organization because of Rut's dedication to it and to the goals that mattered so deeply to him: ensuring fair treatment for workers, protecting their rights and improving conditions in factories around the world," FLA President Auret van Heerden said in a statement.

Tufts is survived by his wife, Clare Jackson Tufts of Durham; two sons, Willy Tufts of Cary and Jackson Tufts of Durham; his mother, Mimi Tufts of Athens, Ga.; his sister, Melissa Tufts of Comer, Ga.; and his brother, Mitchell Tufts of Reno, Nev.

A memorial service will be held at the Chapel of the Cross in Chapel Hill at a date to be set.

Contributions in Tufts' memory may be sent to Heifer Project International, P.O. Box 8058, Little Rock, AR 72203; the Chapel of the Cross, 304 E. Franklin St., Chapel Hill, NC 27514; or the Student Conservation Association, P.O. Box 550, Charlestown, NH 03603-0550.