Obituaries : * Thor Willsrud; College Biology Professor

Thor Willsrud, a biology professor at Ventura College for 30 years, died Feb. 20 in a fall at his Ojai home. He was 58.

Willsrud was born March 9, 1937, in San Francisco.

He earned a bachelor’s degree at Stanford University in 1959 and a master’s degree at San Jose State in 1966, where he was curator of fishes in the biology department.

Willsrud also served in the Navy for three years as a communications officer aboard the U.S.S. Maury and as a staff officer at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii.

He joined the Ventura College faculty in 1966, where he taught biology, marine biology and microbiology, and helped found the marine biology program.

Willsrud was a familiar figure on campus with his big mop of hair, sweatshirt and Birkenstocks, said Thomas B. O’Neill, head of the biology department.

Willsrud’s passion was marine biology and he made many trips to the Channel Islands.

“He loved nature,” O’Neill said. “When he went on field trips, you could sense the exhilaration of discovery of a specimen, particularly one that would be a meaningful one.”

Willsrud was a member of the Ventura County Fish and Game Commission from 1971-74 and also spent four years as an environmental consultant to the Ventura Regional Sanitation District in the 1970s.

Willsrud requested no funeral services, but a memorial service will be held at 3 p.m. March 10 in Guthrie Hall on campus. The biology department also plans to raise money for a scholarship in his name.

Survivors include his daughter, Susan Willsrud of Fairbanks, Alaska; sons, Peter Willsrud of Boulder, Colo., and Tom Zimmer of Fairbanks; former wife, Jenine Willsrud of Ventura; sister and brother-in-law, Astrid and Erik Schenk of Auburn, Calif., and father-in-law, Robert Goertz of Santa Maria.

Cremation arrangements were under the direction of Ted Mayr Funeral Home, Ventura.

Sciacero, Samuel, 87, of Oxnard, retired oil company worker. James A. Reardon Mortuary, Oxnard.

Masaki, Mamoru, 74, of Ojai, retired aerospace engineer. Clausen Funeral Home, Ojai.

Winters, Edna Alma, 86, of Ventura, homemaker. Ted Mayr Funeral Home, Ventura.

Ventura County obituaries are published free of charge as a public service to readers. Obituaries are based on information provided by mortuaries.