Lowry B. McCaslin; Turned Quarry Into Business Complex

Lowry B. McCaslin, veteran San Gabriel Valley real estate developer who turned his Monterey Park sand and gravel pit into a 73-acre business and industrial park, has died. He was 88.

McCaslin, a USC football hero who was named an All-American, died Sunday of respiratory and heart failure at his La Canada Flintridge home, his family announced.

Praised by current McCaslin Properties General Manager Dave Pinkerton for “a real uncanny ability to pick land that was in the way of future growth,” McCaslin bought two major properties in the 1940s--the quarry that was to become McCaslin Park in Monterey Park and the 20-acre estate of pioneer Lucky Baldwin’s family in Arcadia.

The second parcel was for many years the site of the private Anoakia School, which is now defunct. Although McCaslin had discussed developing the estate into single-family homes, the development has not taken place and the mansion where the school was located still stands.

In the late 1940s and 1950s, McCaslin mined his sand and gravel quarry in southeastern Monterey Park for material used in building many of Southern California’s freeways.

The Monterey Park City Council passed an ordinance in 1956 to shut down the quarry, in effect zoning McCaslin out of business, after neighbors complained of noise and dust from the operation. The lawmakers said the quarry was improperly operated in a residential-agricultural zone.

But McCaslin successfully defeated the ordinance in court, winning a ruling that the law could not be applied to his business because it had been in operation before the zoning restriction was passed. He began building the industrial park in 1970.

Company officials said McCaslin was known for his concern about the environment long before that became a popular issue and chose many of the trees and shrubs and guided the landscaping for his Monterey Park development. He was a founding member of the Men’s Garden Club of Los Angeles and a sustaining member of the California Arboretum Foundation.

Born in Whittier, McCaslin entered USC on a basketball scholarship but soon switched to football, playing on Coach Howard Jones’ championship team nicknamed the Thundering Herd. The Sigma Chi fraternity roommate of another well-known USC football player, John Wayne, McCaslin later appeared as an extra in some of the actor’s films.

McCaslin was named to the All-American football team in 1928 and the All Pacific Coast team in 1929.

He served as a Navy lieutenant during World War II.

McCaslin is survived by his wife of 55 years, Polly; a sister, Ruth Englund; seven children and 10 grandchildren.

The family has asked that any memorial donations be made to the Kenneth J. Norris Jr. Cancer Hospital and Research Institute at USC.