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 Tuesday, September 15, 2009 Obituary Notice: Sam Hinton Aquarium director (1946-1964) Scripps Institution of Oceanography / University of California, San Diego Birch Aquarium at Scripps is saddened by the death of Sam Hinton, one of the greats in the aquarium's history and a beloved former San Diego resident. He died Sept. 10 at the age of 92.Hinton served as aquarium director from 1946-1964 and was instrumental in transforming the aquarium from a small wooden structure on the Scripps Institution of Oceanography campus to the larger Scripps Aquarium, which many San Diego adults fondly remember visiting as a child. Scripps Aquarium opened in 1950 and remained the institution's public outreach center until Birch Aquarium at Scripps was built in 1992. Hinton was tirelessly dedicated to the aquarium, serving not only as the director, but also as the artist for most of the aquarium exhibits and the public information office for news media. He produced more than 1,200 installments of a weekly newspaper feature called "The Ocean World," and never hesitated to answer the endless questions from visitors. Nationally, Hinton is considered one of the fathers of the folk-song movement and recorded more than a dozen solo albums during his lifetime. After his retirement in 1980, Hinton devoted himself to performing full-time at local school assemblies, encouraging thousands of children each year to be kind to others and the environment through humorous songs. The City of San Diego honored him in 1988 by designating a day as Sam Hinton Day. Hinton was born in 1917 in Tulsa, Okla. He earned a degree in zoology in 1940 from UCLA and married Leslie Forester, also an artist and musician. He served as director of the Desert Museum in Palm Springs before coming to Scripps Institution of Oceanography at UC San Diego in 1943. He spent the next five decades working for the university. Hinton is survived by his daughter, Leanne; his son, Matthew; two grandchildren; and a great grandchild. # # # Note to broadcast and cable producers: University of California, San Diego provides an on-campus satellite uplink facility for live or pre-recorded television interviews. Please phone or e-mail the media contact listed above to arrange an interview. Scripps Institution of Oceanography, at University of California, San Diego, is one of the oldest, largest and most important centers for global science research and education in the world. The National Research Council has ranked Scripps first in faculty quality among oceanography programs nationwide Now in its second century of discovery, the scientific scope of the institution has grown to include biological, physical, chemical, geological, geophysical and atmospheric studies of the earth as a system. Hundreds of research programs covering a wide range of scientific areas are under way today in 65 countries. The institution has a staff of about 1,300, and annual expenditures of approximately $155 million from federal, state and private sources. Scripps operates one of the largest U.S. academic fleets with four oceanographic research ships and one research platform for worldwide exploration. |
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