Laura Clark Hubbs Dead at Age 95 : She and Husband Left Marine Legacy at Sea World, Scripps

Laura Clark Hubbs, longtime associate of Scripps Institution of Oceanography and widow of naturalist Carl L. Hubbs, died Friday at Scripps Memorial Hospital. She was 95.

Married in 1918, Mrs. Hubbs worked alongside her husband, first as a cataloguer in his University of Michigan laboratory and later at the Scripps Institution in La Jolla, where he became a professor of biology in 1944.

For 35 years, she carried out most of the statistical work for his publications, and she kept his scientific files, records and library in order. She also co-authored 19 of his publications.

The Hubbses conducted extensive field work in the Rocky Mountains and the Sierra Nevada, and also carried out field studies in Baja California. These involved monthly field trips to take ocean temperature measurements and to make collections of fish and of prehistoric human cultures.

In 1976, the Hubbs Marine Research Center of Sea World Research Institute was opened. “Carl and Laura Hubbs have left a rich legacy in their academic progeny, their vast collections of marine specimens and their world-renowned ichthyology reference library at Scripps,” said Edward A. Frieman, director of the institution.

Mrs. Hubbs leaves two sons, Clark Hubbs of Austin, Tex., and Earl Hubbs, of Lapaz, Ind.; three grandchildren, and a great-grandchild.

A memorial service will be held at 2 p.m. July 6 in Sumner Auditorium at the institution.