Donald Francis Mastick

MASTICKDonald Francis, of Santa Barbara, CA formerly of Saddle River, NJ died Saturday, September 8, 2007. He is survived by his beloved wife, Irene. He was born in St. Helena, CA to Spencer and Frankie Hite Mastick and grew up in Napa Valley, CA. He graduated from the University of California, Berkeley with a BS in Chemistry and was Phi Beta Kappa, Sigma Xi. Later he received his PhD in Chemistry at UC, Berkeley. In 1943, he was at the Los Alamos Scientific Laboratory, New Mexico during research in plutonium chemistry and was the head of Biochemical Research Group. He received a commission in the USNR as Lt. (jg) and was a member of Project Alberta with the 509th Composite Group. He was the Assistant Test Director and Operations Officer dealing in the atomic bomb design and attack on Tininan Isle and Assistant to the Director of the Bikini Test operation. He was a recipient of the Bronze Star. Later, he was the section head of Radiochemical Reasearch at the U.S. Naval Radiological Defense Lab, San Francisco. In 1951, he joined the Atomic Energy Commission, Washington, D.C. and was Scientific Advisor to Technical Information Service and manager of Division of Military Applications. He joined General Precision Equipment Corp. as Vice President and Director of Precision Technology, Inc. In 1957, he joined Stauffer Chemical and was appointed Director of Research. In 1971, he and his wife, Irene started an Interior Landscape Company, Foliage Plant Systems, Inc., in New Jersey and expanded into seven states, receiving numerous awards ncluding the American Landscape Contractors of America presented by Nancy Reagan at the White House, Washington, D.C. He also is survived by his brother, Spencer Hite Mastic, of Fresno, CA, and daughter Patricia Young, of Santa Paula, CA. Donations may be made to Visiting Nurses and Hospice of Santa Barbara.