Life of lessons good for the mind

James McGaugh may be a mild-mannered professor to most of the

students at UC Irvine, but how many know that this award-winning PhD,

who is the director of the Center for the Neurobiology of Learning

and Memory, enjoys things other than simply researching? This former

music and drama major takes pleasure in woodworking and playing the

saxophone and the clarinet in concerts.

The 72-year-old recently sat a spell with the Pilot’s Luis Pena to

talk about what could have been and what was his ultimate path.

Where did you grow up?

I was born in Long Beach. We only lived there a few months, and my

father returned to his position in Nogales, Ariz. The first couple of

years we lived in a little town called Claypool, which is near Miami

and Globe. It’s a mining town in Arizona that’s 150 miles east of

Phoenix.

It was during the Depression, so there was 100% unemployment.

Nobody was employed, except that my father was a Methodist minister.

So he had a small salary from the church. Mainly, people there,

including us, lived on winter vegetable gardens, cows that gave milk

and eggs. A lot of bartering went on. Then we moved to Nogales when

I was about 3 years old. A very interesting border town, which is in

the newspapers a lot these days. But then, it was a very quiet little

town.

What kind of childhood did you have?

We lived across the street from the public library, and I read a

lot. I came from a family that valued books, so I read an awful lot.

I was also an invalid. I had a disease called Brucillosis, which is a

little bit like malaria. You get it from drinking unpasteurized milk.

It’s not common these days because everything is pasteurized. I was

an invalid, so that part of my life was not very happy. So, I would

say early childhood was tough.

How did you end up in Newport-Mesa?

Dean Edward Steinhaus, the dean of biological sciences, invited me

to become the founding chair of the department. We now call it

neurobiology and behavior. This was a very exciting opportunity to

have the first academic department of its kind in the world that

focused exclusively on brain and behavior. So, I accepted the job

instantly and moved with my family from Eugene, Ore., to Newport

Beach exactly 40 years ago to Eastbluff.

What are your greatest accomplishments in life?

Well, it always starts with family, for heavens sake. Becky and I

have three grown children and seven grandchildren all living in the

area. Our lives are pretty much centered around family life. It’s a

wonderful achievement to have a good family, a nice large family. I

have appreciated the opportunity to build a department here. For

eight years, I was executive vice chancellor of the campus, and I

appreciated that opportunity. I had the opportunity to found this

research institute. I look at it not in terms of achievements but in

terms of opportunities. I had the opportunity to spend 47 years of my

life to study.

If you could re-do one moment or incident in your life, what would

it be?

I wish that I would have practiced hard in my music when I was a

child. My father committed suicide when I was 9 years old. After

that, the finances of the family were terrible. So I had to start

working when I was very young. So, I worked after school and summers

from about the time I was 10 years old, selling newspapers, working

in factories, all kinds of things. I worked all the way through

college. I had a huge financial responsibility from the time I was

very young. What do I regret? I wish I had more time to play music. I

don’t have any serious regrets. I don’t have any things that I would

like to go back and change. I guess that’s strange, isn’t it? But I

don’t. Life has been good.

What profession other than yours would you like to have tried?

Music and drama. . I was actually studying opera in college as a

minor. On a lark, I saw an announcement in the San Francisco

Chronicle saying that there were auditions for the San Francisco

Light Opera. And so, I drove up to San Francisco and auditioned. I

got the leading role in the opera. And the next day I had to call

them up and tell them sorry I couldn’t do it because I was a college

student. Looking back, I guess if I had an alternate career, it would

have been music or drama, if I had enough talent to do that.

What are some differences between a typical day in your life now

versus a day in your life 30 years ago?

Twenty or 30 years ago, the days were just about the way they are

now. I run a research laboratory. I teach. I have administrative

responsibilities, so I have to see students. I have to raise money to

keep the research going. I have family life. I suppose the big change

is that I don’t have any young children in the house. So, I’m

granddad rather than dad to small children. My wife and I have a lot

more free time than we ever had before. So, I travel a lot. When I

travel, my wife can go with me because we don’t have the

responsibility of children at home.

What is the greatest lesson you’ve learned in your life?

The greatest lesson that I’ve learned in my life is that if there

is something important that needs to be done, there’s one person that

has more control over that than anything or anyone else, and that’s

me. So, it’s a deep sense of personal responsibility for my own life

and the things in my life that are important to me.

What do you treasure most?

Well, family. Ideas in science. I treasure searching for truth. I

treasure honesty. I treasure and value people who value other people.

I admire those rare politicians who understand the importance of

individuals and what they need in life, education. And I despise

those who don’t value education enormously at all levels -- early

education, high school, college and adult education. Expanding the

mind is critically important.

What would you like people to always remember about you?

I hope that they will recall that I was decent and fair and

supportive. Everyone would like to think that they made a difference.

I think we all have a strong responsibility to make the world a

better place. And I hope that I will be given a tiny bit of credit

for that.