THE CENTENNIAL

Thank you for another fine edition of California. I read it from cover to cover and enjoyed every word. However, there are thousands of Cal graduates that never make headlines. They work hard, raise families, fight for social justice, heal the sick, save the environment, teach our children, work in public service, fight in our military, design gardens, and make the world a better place to live. Maybe next year for the "Centennial Plus One" edition, there will be space for us commoners.

Michael Feeley ’75

Congratulations on the top-notch journal you produce. I was pleased and honored to see my photo in the issue ("Re-Play," p. 26), and humbled by the caliber of the individuals with whom I shared the pages of the issue.

Gary T. Tyrrell

The article about free speech activist Bettina Aptheker ("Open mic," p. 70) triggered a related memory—a TV image of the fiery radical Mario Savio arguing with an assistant dean of students surrounded by thousands of demonstrators in Sproul Plaza in 1964. One year earlier I had finished some graduate work in education and had applied for that same job as assistant dean (and then withdrew the application when I was offered a high school principalship). Years later, when I was a school superintendent, I sometimes wondered how life might have been different if I had experienced that opportunity for a kind of Socratic dialogue with Mario Savio!

Morgan Dale Lambert, Ed.D. ’48

The California Centennial Edition was an excellent recap of Berkeley luminaries and past glories as far as it went. But one should ask, what was missing? Most certainly missing was a list of accomplishments that will produce an acceptable quality of life for humanity. Our legacy for the next California Centennial Edition shall most certainly be that we failed to take advantage of our "limitless potential and wealth" during the 20th century, failed to be "ignited, disturbed, and informed" enough to do the right things at the right times. Most inexcusable of all, we failed to overcome poverty and the need to burn fossil fuels, failed to protect, improve, and preserve humanity and our environment.

Anthony St. John ’63

I enjoyed reading the Centennial Edition of California from cover to cover. However, as a third-generation Cal engineering graduate, I was simply amazed that the thousands of engineers since Dwight B. Huntley graduated from Cal in 1875 have apparently contributed so little to California civilization that their accomplishments could be ignored. For over 130 years, Cal’s engineers have helped develop the economy and infrastructure that somehow enable California to function fairly.

Richard L. Wiltshire, P.E., ’72, MSCE ’73

Editor’s note: As expected, several readers nominated alumni they thought worthy of inclusion in the Centennial Edition. Most appear on page 58.

In the article "The view from founders’ Rock" (p. 49) by Kenneth Brower, the person standing on the right next to A. Starker Leopold is not Seth Benson, but rather Ned Johnson, who was curator of birds in the Museum of Vertebrate Zoology. Seth Benson, curator of mammals, is the gentleman in the far background by Starker’s right shoulder, apparently having an intense conversation with a killer-whale skull. I was a graduate student (1960–1966) with Starker Leopold, and worked for several years as a curatorial assistant to Seth Benson. All of these gentlemen have passed away now, most recently Seth Benson at 100 years of age.

Dale R. McCullough
Professor Emeritus of Wildlife Biology

I was happy to read in the excerpt by Viola Lockhart Warren about Stafford L. Warren ("Married to the bomb," p. 60). My husband is the grandson of Stafford Warren, and his three now very grown-up children love these sorts of mementos of their father’s family.

Alison apRoberts

Professor Vizenor’s article ("Mr. Ishi," p. 29) is fascinating. My mother, Olive Whigam Wiggins ’24, told me that when she was a child her mother would take her to visit a friend near the university campus in San Francisco, and my mother would be allowed to go to the anthropology museum. She recalled seeing an old, darkskinned man who wore a uniform like a guard, and later she learned it was Ishi.

Jane Wiggins Samuelson ’48

Why on earth didn’t the cover photographer have Natalie Coughlin smiling? A smile like hers should not be kept from view, so why the serious pose?

Michael B. Neal ’64

ALUMNUS OF THE YEAR

I am stunned by your choice of Don Fisher as Alumnus of the Year ("The ‘bad luck’ benefactor," p. 20). Berkeley stands for enlightenment and a social conscience, and an award to someone from the corporate world should be given out very thoughtfully. Fisher is no doubt a clever businessman, but his effect on the planet has been quite negative. Gap is notorious for seeking out the lowest wages and most brutal conditions for its labor force. Now the Fisher family’s new hobby is clearcutting ancient redwoods in Mendocino County, while hiding behind phony forestry certification.

Mike Roddy ’69

It’s always wonderful to see captains of industry lionized for their legacy-creating good works. I worked for Don Fisher for several years at the dawn of the Gap empire, when there were only seven stores. I learned how difficult it was to live on minimum wage, under incompetent store managers. I found it illuminating to be robbed at gunpoint while working late in the Oakland store, and saw how prosperous a company can become by cost-cutting in the area of security.

Brian O’Neil

A REGRETTABLE INCLUSION

One of Ted Kaczynski’s first victims was a young engineering student at Berkeley, where the so-called Unabomber taught for two years in the 1960s. The student, John E. Hauser, lost part of his hand when he opened a package containing a bomb. For many years afterward, one engineer told us, students and staff members, fearing new attacks, followed strict protocols in processing mail. Later, Kaczynski murdered a distinguished member of the Berkeley community, an alumnus and president of the California Forestry Association, Gilbert Murray. And when Kaczynski was captured in 1996, after the most intensive manhunt in FBI history, his list of prospective targets included a Berkeley engineering building. In our Centennial Edition, we recalled this murderous legacy but erroneously did so under a heading of alumni (he wasn’t one) who had "excelled" (p. 94). The mistake was unintentional, but it understandably upset and angered those who had suffered directly or indirectly from Kaczynski’s crimes, especially the many friends and colleagues of Gilbert Murray. Some rightfully suggested that Murray was the person who deserved recognition, not his killer. We regret the error and apologize for any pain it has caused. Two representative letters are printed below.
–The Editors

It is with appalled dismay I write to protest your selection of Ted Kaczynski as a worthy "luminary" in your publication’s Centennial Edition. Rather than rewarding this terrorist with notoriety, he deserves to be banished to the obscurity of a lifelong prison sentence. Shamefully you omit from your list one of Mr. Kaczynski’s victims. Gilbert Murray, president of the California Forestry Association, dedicated his life to reconciling wise use of resources and conservation. Before Gil graduated from Cal in 1975, he served two tours of duty in Vietnam. After graduation he rose to the position of chief forester at Collins Pine Company—arguably one of the most progressive members of the forest industry in the state. But more telling of Gil’s stature was his leadership of the California Forestry Association through the tumultuous early ’90s as the Grand Accord forestry debates raged in the state. In tribute to his accomplishments, the state legislature dedicated a tree in the state capital grounds in his memory.

Neal Ewald ’78
Past President, California Alumni Foresters

Of the hundreds of thousands of graduates and faculty associated with Cal over the last 139 years, Ted Kaczynski could arguably be the least luminous. He was a psychotic, murderous anarchist who killed my classmate and friend Gil Murray ’75. Gil’s crime was to have replaced Bill Dennison ’59 as president of the California Forestry Association, apparently because Dennison’s name was on an Earth First! hit list. Gil opened the package bomb and suffered an agonizing death resulting from shrapnel in his face and chest. Gil left behind two teenaged sons, a wife, an illustrious career, and many friends and colleagues.

Henry Alden ’75
Forester

Corrections: In the March/April issue, we claimed that James Doolittle ("Daring Doolittle," p. 61) led B-52 bombers over Japan in 1942. The planes were, of course, B-25s.

The profile of U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice Earl Warren incorrectly noted his graduation dates as 1914 and 1916. He received his B.L. in 1912 and his J.D. in 1914. In a similar vein, John Doar received an LL.B from Cal, not a J.D. as we stated.

In the list of CAA presidents, Nadesan Permaul’s name was incorrectly spelled.

Ishi, the last member of the California Yahi tribe, lived in San Francisco after he was detained in 1911, not Berkeley.

And California, admitted to the Union on September 9, 1850, became the 31st state, not the 33rd (January/February, p. 27).

Send letters to californiamag@alumni.berkeley.edu or California, Alumni House, Berkeley, CA 94720.