Los
Angeles County
Biographies
HARRY LASCELLES MASSER
From a junior draftsman to vice
president and executive engineer of the Los Angeles Gas & Electric
Corporation is the remarkable career of Harry Lascelles Masser, who is well
known as a gas engineer throughout the state of California. He was born in Los Angeles on January 2,
1890, when the city was largely concentrated around the old court house and had
a population of about fifty thousand.
His father, William Henry Masser, was born May 20, 1851, in Sunbury,
Pennsylvania, of which town the Masser’s were
original settlers, and on the distaff side he was descended from Paul Baldy, a
soldier in the Revolutionary War. Sarah
Lascelles (Wiegand) Masser, the wife of William Henry Masser, was a native of
Brooklyn, New York, and a daughter of Thomas S. Wiegand, who was a member of
the faculty of the Philadelphia College of Pharmacy. John Wiegand of Philadelphia, grandfather of Mrs.
Masser, was the president and founder of the Western Savings Fund Bank. Maria (Maxwell) Wiegand, the mother of Mrs.
Masser, was a descendant of Henry Lascelles, the earl of Harewood,
England.
Harry Lascelles Masser completed a
course in the Los Angeles high school in 1908, afterward devoting two years to
the cultivation of a small fruit ranch in Los Angeles County, and in 1910
matriculated in the University of Southern California as a freshman in the
school of engineering. With more
fortunate circumstances the following year, he entered the college of chemistry
of the University of California and was graduated with the class of 1914,
receiving the Bachelor of Science degree in chemical engineering.
As often happens with many college
graduates, Mr. Masser did not enter the profession for which he had supposedly
prepared himself during most of his college days. Just prior to the beginning of his senior
year he was offered a position in irrigation engineering with a Los Angeles
concern, and therefore devoted his last year, as much as possible, to
hydraulics and irrigation engineering.
Having received his degree, he returned home to take up this job and
learned that it had not materialized because of business depression. In lieu thereof, he accepted the post of
junior draftsman with this firm, the Keller-Thomason Company. This proved to be good experience, as he
gained a thorough knowledge of foundry work and machine shop practice, and
after a year in the drafting room he became plant superintendent. As the financial status of the company became
more impaired he was obliged to seek other employment. An opening was found in the drafting room of
the Southern California Gas Company and this was the beginning of his career as
a gas engineer. With a general knowledge
of mechanical engineering, combined with diligence for study, opportunities
arose for undertaking various engineering jobs in the oil fields, such as the
design and erection of gas compressor stations, gas transmission lines and
measuring equipment. From head draftsman
in 1915, Mr. Masser gradually worked into the position of engineer in the
office of the general manager.
In March, 1918, he enlisted in the
reserve force of the United States Navy as chief machinist’s mate and in
September, 1918, was commissioned an ensign.
He was assistant naval inspector of ordnance in New York and Brooklyn
and technical assistant to the naval consulting board. While this duty did not materialize in
overseas service, it did provide him with much interesting experience in
assisting to put into commission the heavy gun armament and its accessory
fire-control equipment on the new ships the navy was completing at that
time. The mechanical and electrical
equipment used for automatically directing and keeping the range of the main
battery of a modern warship is most complex and fascinating, and association
with such devices stimulated Mr. Masser’s interest in
the design of mechanical equipment, which has led to the development and
patenting of several devices used in the large-volume measurement of gas.
Just prior to leaving the navy in
1919, Mr. Masser was offered a position by the California State Railroad
Commission. The duties
of this new position involved supervision of the service rendered by gas
companies in this state, and the fixing of gas and electric rates for various
utilities. As gas engineer he was
connected with the commission for five years, during which time opportunities
were presented for gaining a broader knowledge of the more important operating
phases of gas and electric utilities.
Because of his familiarity with natural gas conditions in the southern
part of the state Mr. Masser was appointed gas administrator in 1921. Early in 1924, as the result of certain
departmental changes in the Los Angeles Gas & Electric Corporation, there
came an opportunity to enter the employ of this organization as gas engineer, a
position of considerable advancement, with greater opportunities. In March, 1928, Mr. Baurhyte
retired as president of the Los Angeles Gas & Electric Corporation and
Addison B. Day succeeded him in that office.
As neither of the two remaining vice presidents was experienced along
engineering lines, Mr. Masser was made vice president and executive engineer,
with supervision over all gas and electric operations, as well as other
engineering and operating departments, and renders to the corporation the
highly specialized service of an expert.
At Berkeley, California on August
20, 1921, Mr. Masser was married to Miss Mildred Fidelia
Lantz, who was born in San Jose, California, November 30, 1891, a daughter of
John Wesley and Rose (Southard) Lantz.
Mrs. Masser received a university education and is a member of Alpha Chi
Omega sorority and president of the Pacific Coast Province. Mr. and Mrs. Masser have two children: Harry Lascelles, Jr., who was born July 30,
1922; and Rose Georgiana, born March 5, 1924.
Mr. Masser worships at St. John’s
Episcopal Church. He is a Scottish Rite
Mason and a noble of Al Malaikah Temple of the Mystic Shrine. He belongs to the Jonathan Club, and is a
member of the Phi Kappa Sigma fraternity.
Although still a young man, he is a recognized leader in his special
field of usefulness, and what he has accomplished represents the fit utilization
of his innate powers and talents.
Transcribed by
V. Gerald Iaquinta.
Source: California of the South
Vol. IV, by John Steven McGroarty, Pages 89-92, Clarke Publ.,
Chicago, Los Angeles, Indianapolis. 1933.
© 2012 V. Gerald Iaquinta.
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