My father, Dr. James Patrick Webb Jr., passed away this past Sunday morning, Sept. 5, 2010. He was a father of four and a renowned forensic scientist. He was born November 30, 1941 in Long Beach, California and was the eldest child of James Patrick Webb and Eleanor Lorraine Johansen Rustad. He received his bachelor’s and master’s degrees at Cal State Long Beach. I remember well his lab at Cal State Long Beach with a giant map of California on the wall and all sorts of different animals ranging from chuckwallas to gila monsters. He received his Ph.D. in entomology from Texas Tech University in Lubbock, Texas in 1976. We then moved back to California where he did a post-doc at the UCLA Public School of Health. He eventually started working at the Orange County Vector Control District in 1981 and retired in 2005 primarily due to poor health. A building at the District with a plaque was dedicated to him a few years before he retired which should speak to his reputation. In all, he published roughly 100 papers and helped with dozens of murder cases. An article summarizing his work to that time appears below:
He was also featured in an episode of the “New Detectives” in 1999 and the work on chiggers was clearly evident in the CSI episode “Burked” in 2001.
This Detective’s Witnesses Have 6 LegsForensics: O.C. entomologist Jim Webb uses his insect expertise to help solve murders.
http://articles.latimes.com/1995-09-10/news/mn-44241_1_jim-webb
He is survived by his wife Roberta, their two children Elisa Eleanor and Robert James all of Anaheim, California, as well as his eldest children from his marriage to the now Mrs. Diane E. Estrada viz. Patrick Rush Webb, now Director of Data Analysis at Solopower, Inc. in San Jose, California and Jason Michael Webb of Long Beach, California. He also has four grandchildren: from son Patrick: granddaughter Kailani Aurora Putri Webb and grandson Arjuna Patrick Webb. From son Jason: granddaughters Jenna May Webb and Kayla Elyse Webb. His sister, Mrs. Patricia Ann Messer resides in Lemoore, California and his father’s half-brother, Dr. Gilson Shaw Webb is of Tampa, Florida.
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