Don Parson

1955 - 2018

February 10, 1955 - August 4, 2018 Independent scholar Don Parson passed away peacefully on August 4th at home in Simi Valley. Born February 10th, 1955, Don was a native of Thousand Oaks and earned his PhD in Urban Planning from UCLA in 1985. Don's book, Making a Better World: Public Housing, the Red Scare, and the Direction of Modern Los Angeles, along with numerous articles and reviews he wrote, marked him as one of the major historians of metropolitan Los Angeles during the mid-20th century. An avid collector of books on California history and amateur photographer, Don was a lover of music (especially Irish music and the Kinks), language, and traveling the byways of Ventura County. For many years Don heroically endured the physical complications of the disease Friedreich's Ataxia. Undeterred, he studied in Ireland and traveled through Europe and the US, living life courageously and with humor. He was grateful for the loving care provided by his mother Patricia, who predeceased him, and most recently by Ana Sandoval and Timothy Sheehan, with whom he lived, and was a dear friend and colleague to many. Funeral services are on Saturday, August 11, 10:00 am at Assumption Cemetery, 1380 Fitzgerald Rd., Simi Valley. Rose Family Mortuary.