– Posted 2016-04-16
PIANC USA honors the late Orville Tyler Magoon, former PIANC USA life member and Chief of the Coastal Engineering Branch of the Planning Division of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE), South Pacific Division. He passed at the age of 87 on March 19 in Santa Barbara, surrounded by his wife and children.
Magoon worked for 30 years in the field of coastal planning, design, construction and rehabilitation of coastal structures before retiring as Chief of the Coastal Engineering Branch of the Planning Division of USACE, South Pacific Division in July 1983. The American Society of Civil Engineers created the Orville T. Magoon Sustainable Coasts Award in 2014 in honor of Magoon’s accomplished career. The annual award is presented to a leader who promotes the concept of sustainability in coastal engineering research, design, construction and management. After his retirement from USACE, Magoon continued to write and lecture on coastal zone management and coastal engineering as well as manage his family’s estate winery. He eventually retired from the winery in 2004.
Orville Magoon’s friends and loved ones knew him as a mentor, leader, and friend to all. He is survived by his brother, Eaton Harry Huha “Bob” Magoon, Jr., his wife, Karen, their children and grandchildren.
There are two memorials planned for Orville Magoon at 2 p.m., Sunday, May 1 at the Unitarian Universalist Church at 1187 Franklin in San Francisco, and at 1 p.m., Saturday, June 18 at the Bay Club Santa Clara, 3250 Central Expressway, Santa Clara.