For its new president, The Heinz Endowments went outside the Pittsburgh region to North Carolina, tapping an ordained minister and folksy liberal arts college administrator who prefers to be called "Bobby."

Robert Vagt, announced yesterday as the successor to the outgoing Maxwell King, plans no changes to the region's second-largest philanthropy, which distributed more than $80 million in grants this year and controls $1.6 billion in assets. In discussing the organization yesterday, Mr. Vagt said he has a "deep admiration for what they have well under way."

The selection of the 60-year-old Mr. Vagt ends a six-month search. He will begin work at the Downtown-based Heinz on Jan. 15. Mr. King, a former newspaper editor, will leave in February after eight years as president. Teresa Heinz still is the foundation chair.

Mr. Vagt, she said in a press release, is "the ultimate teacher and doer."

"I believe we have a lot to learn and explore together."

Asked why the philanthropy went outside its own organization (Heinz Endowments vice president Grant Oliphant was thought to be a strong contender for the job) and the region for its next president, spokesman Doug Root said those in charge of the search "believe they found the very best candidate." He declined comment about "the rest of the process."

Until last August, Mr. Vagt was the 16th president of Davidson College, a liberal arts school near Charlotte, N.C. While there, he raised $272 million during a seven-year fund-raising campaign, handled new construction projects and worked to enhance the school's national profile.

But despite his high profile, he always insisted that students call him "Bobby." School officials lauded his humility as Mr. Vagt prepared to step down in August, after 10 years. An appreciation published in the Davidson Journal cited a legion of stories: there was the time in 1997, before he had the job, when he showed up for an interview wearing a red Davidson Wildcat football jersey over his business suit; another time, he helped a college guest with his luggage, never identifying himself as president; and once he carried a broken shutter across campus to have it fixed himself.

Asked about his noted lack of pretension, Mr. Vagt said yesterday that "the minute you start talking with pride about your own humility you have probably belied the point. I just find I have an awful lot to be humble about."

His grandfather, he added, was a Presbyterian minister in eastern Pennsylvania and the advice he offered was to worry "when someone got to thinking he was a half-step ahead of everyone else."

That was "pretty good advice -- for me anyway."

Before Davidson, Mr. Vagt worked for 17 years in the international oil and gas exploration business, serving as a top executive with three separate companies. He also has prior experience with public finance, acting as director of the agency created to save New York City from bankruptcy in the 1970s.

Before that, he worked as a psychologist and warden with the North Carolina Department of Corrections, served as deputy commissioner of the Massachusetts penal system and directed clinical programs in the Northwest Alabama Mental Health Center.

Mr. Vagt was born in Delaware and grew up in Connecticut. He attended Davidson as an undergraduate and in 1969 received a degree in psychology. He picked up a master's in divinity from Duke University and was ordained as a Presbyterian minister in 1972.

Come January, the new Heinz Endowments president expects to live in the city and was eager yesterday to hear about neighborhood living options. His first visit to Pittsburgh, he said, was about a quarter-century ago, when he was a representative of the oil and gas industry.

"It was a Pittsburgh that looked and smelled and had an economic base that was quite different," he said. He said what Pittsburghers have done to "revitalize" and "reform" their city is remarkable.

Six months ago, Mr. Vagt had no inkling that Pittsburgh might be his next stop. He did not actively seek out the Heinz job and only heard about it through a friend who works with the firm in charge of the search. While easing into a retirement from Davidson and relaxation time with his wife, Ruth Anne, he took a look at the job description and "it just grabbed me by the throat."

"Sometimes when you see something that feels terrific, you need to at least try."