Ernest Tucker DS’50 died peacefully on April 10, 2016 after a long decline following a stroke in 2011. Ernie grew up in Birmingham, Alabama and was a National Merit Scholar before attending Deep Springs. He is remembered by his classmate, Don Noel, as being hard working and committed to the ideal of student responsibility for the college. As labor commissioner in 1951, when Ernie learned how costly it would be to have professional crews rebuild the irrigation canal from Wyman Canyon to the campus, Ernie organized a break from the regular academic schedule and rallied the entire student body into a continuous labor crew that completed the work in a week’s time at a fraction of the cost.
Ernie completed his undergraduate degree at Cornell, then attended the Medical College of Alabama where he completed his medical training, internship and residency, specializing in pathology. He enjoyed a long and distinguished career as a Board Certified Immunopathologist. He was an Army physician at the Armed Forces Institute of Pathology in Washington, D.C. In 1967 he joined the Scripps Clinic and Research Foundation as an NIH Special Fellow in Experimental Pathology, later becoming director of the Immunology Reference Laboratory and ultimately director of the Department of Pathology.
Dr. Tucker served as Chair of the Department of Pathology at California Pacific Medical Center in 1989-92. He was president of the American Society of Clinical Pathologists 1991-92 and held numerous positions that promoted continuing education and developing the field of immunopathology. He also served as a trustee of Deep Springs from 1993-2001, helping to shepherd the college’s major rebuilding effort. He loved to travel, whether on international excursions or a simple weekend camping trip. He was devoted to his family and loved to share his home with friends.