Arthur F. Pillsbury, Engineering: Los Angeles
1904-1991
Professor Emeritus
Arthur Pillsbury died on April 12, 1991. He is survived by two sons, Stephen of Sugarloaf and Charles of Menlo Park; and three daughters, Morgan Francis Pillsbury of North Hills, Anne Gripp of Goleta, and Melinda Pillsbury-Foster of Sepulveda. His wife of fifty-five years, Mary Alice (Pam) Reasoner died in 1987.
Art, a second generation Californian, was born in Hollywood on October 11, 1904. His father, Earnest Pillsbury, was a pioneer in reconstructive surgery. At age four, Art was orphaned and adopted by his uncle, Arthur C. Pillsbury, the originator of time-lapse photography. From Stanford University, Art received a bachelor's degree in 1928 and an engineering degree in 1930. His thesis was entitled, “Water Resources of the Santa Clara Valley” and his entire professional career was devoted to making the water resources of California beneficial to municipal, industrial, and agricultural users.
Art worked briefly as an assistant engineer for engineering firms. Then in 1932 he was appointed a junior irrigation engineer at the University of California, Berkeley, Agricultural Experiment Station. In 1939, he transferred to the Los Angeles campus as an assistant irrigation engineer. A year later he received an additional appointment as assistant professor of irrigation and soil science in the UCLA College of Agriculture. By 1952 he had advanced to full professor and irrigation engineer. For six years he was chairman of the Department of Irrigation and Soil Science.
After the College of Agriculture was moved to the Riverside campus in 1965, Art held a joint appointment with the College of Engineering and the Water Resources Center, serving as associate director, acting director and then director of the Water Resource Center from 1968 until his retirement in 1972. He also served on the University of California Water Resources Center Advisory Board for a number of years.
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During the transition period when the single-department College of Engineering evolved into a multidepartment School of Engineering and Applied Science, Art was head of the Engineering Systems Division. In addition to skillfully meeting a series of administrative challenges, he maintained a steady output of research in water resources for agriculture. Art's contributions were in three major areas: watershed hydrology, water distribution systems, and waste water management. His publications included studies of irrigation systems, drainage, water quality and soil reclamation.
Art's research earned the respect of engineers and agricultural scientists around the world. He was recognized as an international authority. While on sabbatical leave in 1964-65 Art was a consultant to the Water Resources and Irrigation Branch of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, advising on water quality programs for France, Scandinavia, Holland, England, Morocco, Pakistan and India. He also consulted for the Arizona vs. California water rights litigation, the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (World Bank), and the Bureau of Indian Affairs. He chaired the San Jacinto Basin Water Advisory Committee and the Coachella Valley Drainage Cooperators and was a member of the U.S. Panel of the International Boundary and Water Commission for the United States and Mexico, which addressed salinity problems of the Colorado River. He was also a member of the Statewide Conservation Guidance Committee of the California State Soil Conservation Commission, the Federal Water Pollution Control Administration's National Technical Committee on Water Quality Requirements for Agricultural Uses, and the Technical Coordinating Committee, San Francisco Bay-Delta Water Quality Control Program. As a member of the Los Angeles Mayor's Hill Brush Committee, he was among the first to warn that brush fires can lead to flooding and erosion because the ground cover is destroyed. Art served on many campus and Systemwide committees relating to agriculture and water.
In 1972, he retired and moved to Springville, California, occasionally advising on California water resources issues. After the death of his wife, Pam, Art spent his last years with his daughter, Anne, in Goleta.
Art Pillsbury dedicated his long and productive career to the University of California and water resources. He is remembered as a respected scholar and gentleman who was always considerate of his colleagues.
John Dracup Russell and O'Neill Richard Perrine
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