Arthur Bronson; Led L.A. Community College Board

Arthur Bronson, whose advocacy of education coupled with a devotion to practicality led him at various times to work as a forest ranger and oil company executive before becoming president of the Los Angeles Community College District Board of Trustees, has died.

His wife, Nene, said her husband was 80 when he died Friday in a Century City hospital of the complications of Alzheimer’s disease.

Bronson, who served on the college board from 1971 to 1988 and was president in 1975-76, 1977-78 and 1985-86, was a trustee during the difficult days that followed the 1978 passage of Proposition 13, when funding for the community colleges was transferred from local districts to Sacramento.

Subsequent cutbacks cost Los Angeles community colleges alone more than one-third of their enrollment because of higher fees. The resultant outcry forced Bronson into a tight reelection race against Richard Ferraro in 1984.

In 1980, he had run unsuccessfully for a state Senate seat.

Bronson was an early environmentalist, earning a bachelor’s degree from the New York State College of Environmental Science and Forestry and a master’s in environmental science from Duke University. He earlier had graduated from the New York State Ranger School and was trained in forestry-related subjects. He attended classes in the morning, he said in a 1975 interview, and worked in the field in the afternoon.

From that, he said, he evolved beliefs that theory works best when applied concurrently with work itself. He said he was led to seek office on the college board because “the average age of the Los Angeles Community College student is 27, and 70% to 75% are employed. They know what it is to work.”

After World War II service in the Marine Corps, Bronson joined Atlantic Richfield, for which he managed special products, continuing to work as a consultant during retirement.

Besides his wife, he is survived by five children and 11 grandchildren.