Corona del Mar marine biologist dies

June Casagrande

Wheeler J. North, a marine biologist and scuba diver who pioneered

research of kelp beds, died Friday at Hoag Memorial Hospital

Presbyterian after a long battle with leukemia. He was 80.

A Corona del Mar resident originally from San Francisco, North was

well known for his decades of research of kelp beds along the coast

of California and Mexico and for his work in restoring and replanting

kelp habitats.

He was the first to study the effects of sewage on kelp beds. He

was also among the first to use scuba diving in marine biology and

among the first to study the effects of what is now called El Nino.

He also pioneered methods of raising kelp in the laboratory from

spores for transplantation into the marine environment.

“Wheeler is the one who enabled us to understand what the

requirements were for growing kelp, and how to seed and plant and

transplant it,” said Chuck Mitchell, president of MBC Applied

Environmental Sciences and a colleague of North’s since the 1950s.

Wheeler was born in San Francisco on Jan. 2, 1922, but spent most

of his childhood in La Jolla and in various parts of Mexico. At

Caltech, he earned two bachelor’s degrees -- the first in engineering

in 1944, the second in biology in 1950.

He earned a doctorate from the Scripps Institute of Oceanography

in 1953. He stayed on at Scripps as a scientist, conducting numerous

research projects regarding kelp beds.

In 1963, he accepted a position as a professor at Caltech,

teaching marine biology at the Pasadena campus and the Kerckhoff

Marine Laboratory in Corona del Mar.

Mitchell recalled North as a scientist who worked seven days a

week, rarely, if ever, taking vacations. In his free time, North did

things like photographing kelp bed development from the air in his

private plane, Mitchell said.

“He was extremely dedicated, tireless,” Mitchell said.

Friends and family said they will also remember him as a kind,

good man, who was as well loved as he was content.

“As a human being, he was probably the most graceful and happy

human being you ever met,” said North’s son, Wheeler O. North.

North is survived by his wife, Barbara; his son; and his daughter,

Hannah North.

Service arrangements have not been finalized. North’s son said

that a large memorial may be scheduled for February to accommodate

about 300 mourners and admirers.