Volume 26 · Number 3 · Spring 2009
In Memoriam
Lincoln Hurst
Raymond Parnas
Timothy Prout
William Pruitt Jr.
Lincoln Hurst, a professor of religious studies during 1983–2006, a world-recognized Bible scholar and film historian, died from a heart attack in November. He was 62. His courses on Christianity and the New Testament often had waiting lists. A Facebook group, “Yep, I’m a Huge Fan of Professor Hurst” — created by a former student — had close to 70 members. More . . .
Gerald Ling, D.V.M. ’65, professor emeritus of veterinary medicine, died in January after a long illness. He was 70. He devised several techniques now routinely used in the diagnosis and treatment of urinary tract diseases in dogs and cats. A faculty member since 1968, he taught an estimated 3,600 veterinary students during his career. He helped establish both the Small Animal Emergency and Small Animal Outpatient services at the Veterinary Medical Teaching Hospital. He received the 2002 Faculty Teaching Award from his colleagues and the veterinary school’s 2003 Alumni Achievement Award.
Raymond Keefer, Ph.D. ’40, an emeritus professor of chemistry, died in February in Davis after a brief illness at age 95. He was the first student to obtain a doctorate in chemistry at UC Davis. He was a faculty member during 1940–83, with an interruption to serve as a Navy radar officer during World War II. His studies with colleague Lawrence Andrews on chemical complexes have contributed to a number of research fields — from development of pharmaceutical compounds to the search for new types of fuels. More . . .
Raymond Parnas, a professor emeritus of law, died in January at age 71. He taught juvenile justice, family law and criminal procedure courses from 1969 to 2001. He co-authored California’s 1977 determinate sentencing law, which sought to make prison terms proportional to the crime. He co-authored law textbooks that are still used across the country. More . . .
George Perle
George Perle, a Pulitzer Prize-winning composer who helped to establish UC Davis as a center for new music composition and performance, died in January at his Manhattan home. He was 93. He taught music at UC Davis from 1957 to 1961 and returned to campus several times in recent decades to work with music students. In 1986, he won the Pulitzer Prize for his composition Wind Quintet No. 4. More . . .
Timothy Prout, a professor emeritus of evolution and ecology, died in January at age 85. He joined the faculty in 1974 and continued to do research on population genetics in fruit flies long after his 1989 retirement.
William Pruitt Jr., an irrigation engineer and lecturer in water science during 1957–87, died in January. He was a world authority on evapotranspiration and water supply management for efficient irrigation.
Richard Walker, D.V.M. ’80, M.P.V.M. ’84, Ph.D.’85, a veterinary professor and nationally renowned expert in clinical diagnostic bacteriology, died in December in Bodega Bay at age 56. He studied infectious diseases that affected animals like livestock and poultry, and he helped create the California Animal Health and Food Safety Laboratory, a lab operated for the state of California by the veterinary school. More . . .