John A. Dracup

Professor John A. Dracup, born in Seattle, Washington, on July 14, 1934, passed away on December 20, 2021, at 87 years of age.

Professor John A. Dracup embodied a warm, welcoming manner, a strong and mischievous sense of humor, and profound kindness. He also had a tremendous international reputation, having made great contributions to our shared field of water engineering. But working at UC Berkeley comes with a surreal side-effect, by which “luminaries of their field” enter your life as genial, twinkling, good humored colleagues – normal people, friends and mentors – and these personal elements form my strongest memories of John.

And make no mistake – John was a luminary, with a celebrated 65-year career in water resources engineering. This career began with a Bachelor’s degree in Civil Engineering from the University of Washington in 1956, a Master’s at MIT followed by a PhD at UC Berkeley in 1966, which John finished while beginning an appointment at UCLA Engineering in 1965. He joined UC Berkeley in 2000, and remained engaged in teaching, research and the life of the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering up to his death. John was a well-loved instructor, teaching graduate and undergraduate courses in surface hydrology, engineering and environmental economics, and water resources engineering.

John’s research focused on water resources engineering. He developed some of the first reliable metrics to identify and define droughts, a thorny problem that continues to exercise researchers today. Much of John’s work anticipated the urgent contemporary problems of climate change and the pressures it places on water availability and hazard management.

John loved to travel, and although his work was often informed by California, he had a clear-eyed understanding of the importance of water resources to health and wellbeing of societies worldwide. Born to immigrant parents in Seattle and a former ROTC engineer stationed in Europe in the 1950s, John viscerally appreciated the value of education as path to opportunity, and of engineering as a tool that could be employed for social good. These understandings informed his approach to mentorship – for he was a generous mentor, particularly to international students. They also informed his end-of-life passion for enabling water treatment in developing nations, which he pursued with UC Berkeley engineering students in partnership with Rotary International.

John championed knowledge exchange between water resources engineers in California and experts in places facing similar climate and water scarcity challenges. This exchange took him to Australia as a Fulbright Scholar in 2001. John delighted in recounting his favourite cross cultural experiences Down Under with me (an Aussie myself) – a proud taxi driver refusing John’s politely offered tip with a gruff: “do you think you’re better than me or something, mate?” While I wish the cabbie had been a little more gracious, John remained tickled years later by the beating egalitarian heart of his host country.

I am sure that John’s tremendous life experience, his appreciation for ongoing water research, and his extensive travel and familiarity with international researchers created the elder statesman I met at Cal. He was unfailingly kind to me, and we enjoyed joking together as much as we did working together. But I believe John was kind to everyone. At Cal, John was a man taking great satisfaction in a life well lived which offered him ongoing joy – particularly through his gorgeous wife Kathy and their well-loved family – and stimulation, through his work. John is survived by his loving wife, sister, five children, eleven grandchildren, and great-granddaughter.

Vale, John.
We will miss the mischief in your eyes and your creaky laugh in the corridors. Our lives and our work were enriched by yours.

Sally Thompson
2022