Los
Angeles County
Biographies
ARTHUR AMSDEN MACURDA, A. M.
A distinguished educator, Arthur A.
Macurda has made his efforts in this connection of particular value to
California and is now one of the officers of the Macurda-Drisko
Schools, Inc., of Los Angeles. He was
born in Fitchburg, Massachusetts, August 1, 1873, a son of William A. and
Frances (Burdett) Macurda, who were natives of Maine. After leaving the Pine Tree state they lived
in Clinton and at Fitchburg, Massachusetts, where the father was well known as
a pharmacist, and both he and the mother are now deceased.
In the public schools of his native
city Arthur A. Macurda acquired his early education, and at Providence, Rhode
Island, he attended Brown University, which awarded him the degree of Bachelor
of Arts in 1895. He then went to the
Hawaiian Islands, where he spent two years, teaching in the schools of Kamehameha, Honolulu and other districts. With his return to the United States, Mr.
Macurda became an instructor in the Cogswell polytechnic school at San
Francisco, with which he was connected for three years, and for one year of
that period was its principal. He was
also director of the Y. M. C. A. four years.
He attended the University of California at Berkeley, where he received
the Master of Arts degree in 1902.
Appointed deputy superintendent of the city schools in San Francisco, he
acted in that capacity for four years, resigning to become president of
California College at East Oakland, and ably administered the affairs of the
institution for two years. In 1910 he
came to Los Angeles and during the ensuing decade taught in the State Normal
School and in the southern branch of the University of California.
In 1920 with Milton C. Drisko as a partner, Mr. Macurda established the Los
Angeles Coaching School, which was started with a capital of five hundred
dollars and was a distinct success. That
name was retained until January, 1929, when it was changed to the present form,the Macurda-Drisko
Schools, Inc. In 1930 the corporation
took over the plant and name of The Cumnock Schools
at 5353 West Third Street.
On the 2nd of September,
1898, at San Francisco, Mr. Macurda was married to Miss Rose D. Johnson, a
daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Isaac F. Johnson and a member of a prominent family of
Los Angeles. Mr. and Mrs. Macurda have
three sons and two daughters: Malcolm,
an electrical engineer with the Bell Telephone at Santa Ana, who married Miss
Ethel Eames and has two children, Neal Edward and Audrey Irene; Maurice, well
known in southern California as a musician and orchestra leader; Meredith, who
was married in Los Angeles to Miss Ruby Ihde, now an
instructor in the public schools of this city, with which her husband is also
connected in the capacity of a teacher; Muriel, registrar in the Cumnock School; and Mignon.
All of the children are natives of San Francisco except the youngest,
who was born in Los Angeles.
Mr. Macurda is a Mason and he is a
member of the Congregational Church. His
scholarship won for him admission to Phi Beta Kappa, an honorary fraternity,
and Delta Upsilon. He is a member of the
University Club, and is now (1933) president of the Southern California Club.
Transcribed by
V. Gerald Iaquinta.
Source: California of the South
Vol. IV, by John Steven McGroarty, Pages 439-440, Clarke Publ.,
Chicago, Los Angeles, Indianapolis. 1933.
© 2012 V. Gerald Iaquinta.
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LOS ANGELES BIOGRAPHIES