Alameda
County
Biographies
ROBERT
SIBLEY
Robert
Sibley, chairman of the Board of Directors, Bank of Berkeley, and president of
the Board of Directors, East Bay Regional Parks, was born March 28,1881, in
Round Mountain, Alabama; the son of Robert Pendleton and Susie (Bolling) Sibley.
Received his B.Sc. from College of
Mechanics, University of California, in 1903 and the E.E. degree in 1922; did
graduate work under Harris J. Ryan and Dexter S. Kimball, Stanford University,
in 1930.
Mr. Sibley was chief electrical
engineer for Mariposa Commercial & Mining Company, January-September 1903;
professor of Mechanical Engineering at University of Montana, 1903-04, of
Mechanical and Electrical Engineering, 1904-09, and dean of School of Engineering,
1903-07; in practice in Montana, 1907-11, as consultant for Chicago, Milwaukee
& St. Paul, Bunker Hill and Sullivan mines, and other corporations;
associate professor of Mechanical Engineering, 1911-12, and professor until
1915, University of California.
From 1919 to 1922 Mr. Sibley was
editor of Western Industry; president of McGraw-Hill Company of California,
1919-22, and Pacific Coast consultant to 1925. He has been executive manager of
California Alumni Association since 1923; president of Fidelity Acceptance
Corporation 1927-47; director of American Alumni Council 1939-46 (president,
1942-44); and chairman of the Board of Directors of Bank of Berkeley since
1944.
Mr. Sibley was Western delegate to World
Power Conference, London, in 1924; American delegate and delegate for American
Society of Mechanical Engineers to World Power Conference, Berlin, in 1930, and
in Stockholm in 1933.
Author of: “A Primer of Applied
Thermodynamics”; “Elements of Fuel Oil and Steam Engineering” (with C. H. Delany),
1918; “Research Statistics on Undeveloped Water Power Resources of the United
States”; “America’s Answer to the Russian Challenge,” 1931. Editor of Romance
of the University of California, 1928, (sic) ’33; Golden Book of California,
1936; Folio of California Wildflowers, 1939; Folio of The Seasons of
California, 1940; and Folio of Birds of California, 1944.
Fellow of American
Institute of Electrical Engineers (vice president, 1921-23), and American
Society of Mechanical Engineers (vice president, 1921-23). Member of
Delta Upsilon, Phi Beta Kappa, Sigma Xi, Tau Beta Pi; Golden Bear Society
(University of California); Masonic Order
(K.T. Shriner); and the following clubs:
Bohemian, Commonwealth, Engineers (San Francisco); Faculty (University of
California); and Claremont Country (Oakland).
Mr. Sibley married Catharine Stone
on September 8, 1904 (died May 29, 1942); one daughter, Catharine Elizabeth.
His second marriage was to Carol Rhodes Johnston on December 6, 1943. His home
is in Berkeley, California, at 1777 Leroy.
Offices: 2333 Shattuck Avenue, Berkeley, California.
Transcribed By: Cecelia M. Setty.
Source: “Eminent Californians 1953”,
by Lee E. Johnson & C. W. Taylor. Page 279, C. W. Taylor
Publ., Palo Alto, California, 1953.
© 2014 Cecelia M. Setty.
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