[Currents headergraphic]

June 23, 1997

In Memoriam

Fred Farr, attorney, environmentalist, former state senator, and UC Santa Cruz Foundation Board trustee, died June 10 in Monterey; he was 86.

He was born in Oakland and received undergraduate and law degrees from UC Berkeley. After World War II, he settled in Carmel with his wife and three children. Farr was elected to the state senate in 1955, the first Democrat in 43 years to represent the rural Central Coast. He held that seat until 1966.

[Photo of Fred Farr]

While in the state senate Farr focused his legislative efforts on environmental protection and planning. He is credited with establishing California's scenic highway program and stopping the state from building a freeway along the Big Sur coast, and he was instrumentaI in getting a law passed requiring toilets in the fields for farmworkers. In 1967 he was appointed highway beautification coordinator for the U.S. Department of Transportation, a position he held for two years, before returning to his law practice in Carmel.

Fred Farr led a successful fight to deny a use permit for an oil refinery at Moss Landing and a grassroots effort to acquire farmland slated for development along the Carmel River. Farr took positions of leadership in many civic organizations, including serving as president of the California State Historical Society, director of the Monterey Institute of International Studies, chairman of the Monterey County Democratic Central Committee, a trustee of the Monterey Peninsula Foundation, a commissioner for the state Coastal Commission, and a board member of the Monterey Bay Aquarium.

Farr joined the UC Santa Cruz Foundation Board as a trustee in 1983 and served on the board and as a tireless champion of UCSC until his death. He had held the board position of parliamentarian since 1995. His particular interests at UCSC included marine sciences, regional development, and international relations, and he generously supported the Educational Enrichment Fund and the Karl S. Pister Leadership Opportunity Awards Program.

Ruth Frary, the first campus physician and director of University Health Services, died June 9 at age 83. A native of South Dakota, Dr. Frary earned her undergraduate degree at the University of South Dakota and went on to study medicine at Tufts Medical School in Boston. After completing a residency at Children's Hospital in San Francisco, Dr. Frary and her husband moved to Watsonville, where she began a private practice. An innovator in patient-centered care, Dr. Frary was the first doctor locally to allow mothers to observe the birth experience and to allow fathers in the delivery room, and she strongly believed in educating patients.

Shortly after the UCSC campus opened in 1965, Dr. Frary accepted the position of University Health Officer, a position which developed along with the campus over the years. In addition to her roles as administrator and physician, Dr. Frary was also a fellow and lecturer at College Five (now Porter College). She taught a popular course in human sexuality in the early '70s, and her insights and judgment guided and influenced campus policies and procedures during a period of rapid societal change. She retired in 1980.

One of Dr. Frary's most important contributions to the university was her direct oversight of the design, construction, and furnishing of the Cowell Student Health Center; a patio at the health center is named in her honor.


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