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ROHO chronicles engineering luminary
Karl Pister
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Karl
Pister (center, with book) at the Morrison Library event with
members of his family (from left to right), daughter Jacinta
Pister Whitmore, brother Phil Pister, wife Rita Pister, son
Kris Pister, son Karl Pister, and daughter Tracy Pearse Mulder.
PEG SKORPINSKI PHOTO |
The illustrious career and life of Karl Stark Pister have been
captured in a 600-plus-page oral history published last fall by
the Regional Oral History Office (ROHO) and celebrated at a September
event in Morrison Library.
Outgoing UC President Richard Atkinson, a colleague and friend
since 1980, sponsored the project and describes Pister in the
introduction to the volume as “one of the most remarkable
leaders in the history of the University of California”
who dedicated “his heart and soul” to the more than
20 positions he has held here.
The history chronicles Pister’s early years in Stockton,
his civil engineering studies at Berkeley and the University of
Illinois, his Navy service, and his 56-year academic career spent
primarily at Berkeley as professor, engineering dean, researcher,
educator, and administrator. The book is rich in detail about
his personal history as son, student, sports fan, husband, father
to six children, and a devout Catholic.
After two initial interviews, Pister spent a year reviewing his
files, making meticulous notes, and developing an outline with
ROHO interviewer Germaine LaBerge before resuming the interviews.
The entire process, he observes, was both fun and rewarding.
“What it did was dramatically reinforce for me the fact
that life is about people and the university is about people,”
he says. “Although there is a material content to your interactions,
there is no question in my mind that the people in your life are
the most important thing.” Reviewing his life path also
reminded Pister that he had made only a handful of significant
decisions.
“There’ve been maybe half a dozen times in my life
where I consciously had to make a personal decision that affected
my own future. That’s why I’ve tried to counsel my
own children and students to keep themselves prepared, so that
when doors are opened, you can make the right choice.” He
says his most important decision was to ask his wife, Rita Olsen
Pister, with whom he recently celebrated 53 years of marriage,
to marry him.
The new oral history is available through ROHO at the Bancroft
Library.
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