Seismic Safety Panel’s Director to Resign in July

The executive director of the California Seismic Safety Commission, L. Thomas Tobin, announced Friday that he is resigning, effective at the end of July, to pursue a career in earthquake consulting.

Tobin, 53, has served on the state commission, which is charged with recommending steps to the governor and Legislature for reducing earthquake hazards statewide, for 10 years. He said no policy disagreements were involved in his departure.

Wilfred Iwan, a Caltech professor who is one of the 17 commissioners and a former head of the panel, commented that Tobin had served during five damaging quakes--Whittier Narrows, Loma Prieta in the San Francisco Bay Area, Humboldt County, Landers and Northridge--a time when state earthquake codes and policies have come under searching review.

“He has handled all of that with intelligence, integrity and class,” Iwan said. “We will miss him.”

The present commission chairman, structural engineer Paul Fratessa, was vacationing and not available for comment.