David S. Saxon
The Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution announces with great sorrow
the death December 8, 2005 of Honorary Member of the Corporation David
S. Saxon of Los Angeles at the UCLA Medical Center after a lengthy
illness. He was 85.
David S. Saxon was
elected a Member of the Corporation in June 1983 and was elected an
Honorary Member in June 1990. He was a Guest Associate from 1998 to
2000.
Born in St. Paul, Minnesota in 1920, he attended the
Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), receiving a B.A. degree in 1941
and a Ph.D. in 1944, both in physics. He worked at MIT’s wartime
radiation laboratory, Phillips Laboratories, and as a physicist at the
National Bureau of Standards before joining the faculty at the
University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) in 1947 as an assistant
professor of theoretical nuclear physics. Three years later he was one
of 31 faculty members fired for refusing to sign an oath of loyalty and
declare they were not members of the Communist Party during the Red Scare of the 1950s. The
California Supreme Court declared the loyalty oath requirement invalid,
and he returned to UCLA in 1952.
During his long career at UCLA he served as professor and dean of physical sciences, vice chancellor and executive vice
chancellor. In 1974 he was named provost of the University of California, and a year later was elected president of
the University of California system, serving in that position until
1983.
David Saxon remained active at MIT as well throughout his
career, joining the MIT Corporation in 1977. He was elected chairman of
the corporation in 1983, serving in that post until 1990, when he was
named a life member and honorary chair. In 1995 he was named a life
member emeritus. He served MIT on visiting committees for
chemistry, physics and sponsored research, and was a member of the
corporation’s development and membership committees. He returned
to UCLA in 1990 as a professor emeritus in physics and astronomy.
David Saxon held a number of honorary degrees, and was a Fellow of the
American Academy of Arts and Sciences. He was also a member of the
American Philosophical Society, American Physical Society, and the
American Association for the Advancement of Science.
Survivors include his wife of 65 years, Shirley; six daughters, and six
grandchildren. A memorial service will be held in 2006 at UCLA.
Donations in his memory may be made to the David Saxon Physics Graduate
Fellowship Fund, UCLA Foundation, 10920 Wilshire Blvd., Los Angeles, CA
90024 or to the Braille Institute, 741 N. Vermont Avenue, Los Angeles,
CA 90029.
