Biography

1898-1989
Professor Emeritus

With the death of Dudley F. Pegrum in June 1989, at age 91, UCLA lost another of its pioneering professors.

A native of Canada, Professor Pegrum earned his B.A. and M.A. degrees at the University of Alberta in the early 1920s. After receiving his Ph.D. at the University of California, Berkeley, in 1927, he joined the faculty of the UCLA Department of Economics. Until his full retirement in 1970, he pursued a full career in teaching, researching and writing, consulting, and administering.

Pegrum was an effective teacher of both undergraduate and graduate students. His textbooks were widely used. And he directed a fourth of the economics doctoral dissertations written during his era.

Industrial organization, including anti-trust, public utilities, and transportation, was his main field of interest. Publications included three books and scores of articles and other essays. A highly conspicuous and honored research specialist, in 1966 he received the Transportation Award of the American Economic Association for “outstanding contributions to scholarship…”

His influence extended beyond the classroom and contact with fellow researchers: He frequently served as consultant to local, state and federal government and professional associations, business groups, and individual corporations in the realms of transportation, communication, and utilities.

However, UCLA was his home, and he served the campus well during a long period which included difficult times. Along with his superior teaching and direction of graduate students, he worked at an impressive succession of administrative chores, including chairing the department’s graduate program from 1937-51 and chairing the entire department from 1938-44. He was not indifferent to the well-being and prospects of his university and his world.

Following initial retirement in 1965, he was recalled to service for five additional years.

Dudley Pegrum was an amateur wrestler in his school days and an inveterate swimmer during the rest of his life. He was strong and tough, not only in body, but also in mind and character. His standards of scholarship were of the highest, and he effectively melded empiricism with analytics. Although there was a certain acerbic aspect of his personality, he was exceedingly kind and generous in deeds. Most who knew him well appreciated not only his competence, but also his courage, consistency, and candor.

Armen A. Alchian William Allen Jack Hirshleifer