Kenneth S. Norris; Marine Mammal Researcher

Kenneth S. Norris, 74, pioneering marine mammal researcher and founder of the UC Natural Reserve System. Born in Los Angeles, Norris earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees in zoology at UCLA and a doctorate in zoology at Scripps Institution of Oceanography in La Jolla. He was founding curator of the now defunct Marineland of the Pacific on the Palos Verdes Peninsula. As a UCLA teacher and researcher in herpetology in the 1960s, Norris discovered circadian rhythms in snakes and the function of color changes in reptiles and amphibians. In 1965, he set up the UC system of preserving natural areas for teaching and research, beginning with seven reserves and now totaling 33. From 1968 to 1971, Norris was in Hawaii as founding scientific director of the Oceanic Institute. He also continued his marine mammal research and helped write what became the federal Marine Mammal Protection Act of 1972. That year, Norris moved to UC Santa Cruz as director of its Center for Coastal Marine Studies. He later chaired the university’s environmental studies department and founded its financial support program for undergraduate research. Norris also wrote several books about whales, dolphins and porpoises. His 1992 “Dolphin Days: The Life and Times of the Spinner Dolphin” earned the prestigious John Burroughs Award for nature writing. A Times reviewer called the book “a model of popular science writing--readable, entertaining and informative.” On Sunday in San Francisco.