Obituaries

16 January 2002 |

William Allen
Professor Emeritus William Allen, an entomologist whose work helped the California strawberry industry become the nation’s primary strawberry producer, died Dec. 21 of cancer. He was 80. Allen served on the faculty and in several leadership positions in the College of Natural Resources.

Allen’s main scientific contributions were identifying spider mites, lygus bugs, root weevils and aphids as the most economically significant strawberry insect pests.

He was the key strawberry entomologist in the state from the 1950s until he retired, according to cooperative extension specialist Frank Zalom, former director of the California Statewide Integrated Pest Management Project. “During that time, the industry grew from a few hundred acres to 85 percent of the national production. This productivity requires intensive pest management.”

“When growers saw an insect feeding on their crop,” Zalom said, “they automatically assumed it was causing a problem; the natural thing was to spray anything.”

Allen, however, used monitoring and other tools of the then-emerging field of integrated pest management to help the industry concentrate on the economically significant insects. As a result, Zalom said, the industry began using pesticides more judiciously and slowed the rate at which insects developed resistance to the chemicals.

Allen earned his B.S. in 1943 and his Ph.D. in entomology in 1952, both at Berkeley. He joined the faculty in 1953 and became associate dean for research in 1985. He retired in 1991.

Allen is survived by his wife, Adele, of Orinda, Calif., and daughters Joan Husted, of Pleasant Hill, and Mary Knott, of Martinez.

Memorial contributions may be made to the Alta Bates Summit Foundation, attn: Alta Bates Comprehensive Cancer Center, 2450 Ashby Ave., Berkeley, Calif., 94705, or the Salvation Army, attn: Memorial Donations, 7th & Webster Streets, Oakland, Calif., 94607.

Doris Birch
Doris Birch, an administrative assistant for Information Systems and Technology, died Nov. 20, 2001, from complications due to lung cancer.

Birch worked at Berkeley for six years — in the Communication and Network Services department and in IST’s Associate Vice Chancellor’s Office.

“Doris was a dedicated worker and devoted mother, friend and Christian,” said Janice Sartain of User & Account Services. “When she was not serving her family she could be found serving at her church. Doris was respected by everyone. She will be missed by all who knew her and were lucky enough to be a part of her life.”

Birch is survived by her daughter, D’Nean Perkins, who works in the Office of the Registrar.

Funeral services were held Nov. 24 in Renewed Hope, Birch’s church in Richmond, Calif.

John Henry Raleigh
John Raleigh, professor emeritus of English and the campus’s vice chancellor for academic affairs during a period of deep budget cuts in the early 1970s, has died at age 81.

Raleigh died of pneumonia in an Oakland nursing home Dec. 21.
Born in Springfield, Mass., he earned his master’s and Ph.D. from Princeton University in 1946 and 1948 respectively. He began his career at Berkeley in 1947 as a lecturer in English. A scholar of 19th and 20th century American, English and European literature, Raleigh’s 1965 book, “The Plays of Eugene O’Neill,” is considered a leading source on O’Neill. He was particularly interested in the interplay of history and literature and in the role of memory in works of literature.

Raleigh served as vice chair of the English department from 1959 to 1962. In 1969, he became chair and in the same year was appointed vice chancellor for academic affairs, a post he held until 1972, when he returned to teaching English in 1972. He received the campus’s Berkeley Citation in 1991, the year he retired.

Raleigh was working on a book about memory and literature and another about the Berkeley English department. Until the age of 75, he played squash every morning.

“He loved the university almost more than anything,” said his daughter, Lydia Raleigh Berggren. She said he also loved sports, was an accomplished pianist and singer, and had a keen sense of humor.

Raleigh is survived by his sister, Margaret; daughter, Lydia Raleigh Berggren of Salt Lake City, Utah; daughter Kingsley Ashford of Paradise, Calif.; son, John L. Raleigh of Redwood City, Calif.; and seven grandchildren. His wife, Jo, died of a heart attack 20 days before his own death.

Karl Steinbrugge
Professor Emeritus Karl Steinbrugge, a civil and structural engineer and a professor who taught structural design, has died at the age of 82 after a lifetime dedicated to reducing earthquake hazards and achieving seismic safety goals in California.

“We’re all just a lot safer because this man lived,” said Robert Olson, a consultant on natural hazard issues and a longtime colleague of Steinbrugge’s.

Colleagues said the architecture professor contributed to contemporary building codes that incorporate seismic safety measures and spurred the creation of legislation and programs to enhance earthquake safety.

As an engineer, Steinbrugge conducted field investigations of actual earthquake sites to interpret the damage to structures. His explorations took him to sites of major temblors, including Kobe, Japan; Anchorage, Alaska; and Managua, Nicaragua.

Steinbrugge drew legislative attention with a report in 1968 about the earthquake vulnerability of the San Francisco Bay Area. In 1975, he became the first chair of the California State Seismic Safety Commission. He also served twice in the Executive Office of the President in Washington, D.C., helping to develop quake hazard reduction policies.

Steinbrugge worked closely with Berkeley’s Earthquake Engineering Research Center — to which he donated 10,000 photographs and 5,800 slides on earthquakes and their aftermath — many of which he took in the field.

He taught on campus from 1950 until his retirement in 1978, and served a term as acting dean of the College of Environmental Design. After retirement, he worked as a consultant.

Born in 1918 in Tucson, Ariz, Steinbrugge died Oct. 9, 2001 at his home in Los Gatos. Survivors include his wife, Elizabeth; his daughter, Anne Marie Rojas of San Carlos; his son, Alan Steinbrugge of El Cerrito; and two grandchildren.