* Warren R. Biggerstaff; Former Professor

Warren R. Biggerstaff, a retired professor of organic chemistry, has died at age 82.

Biggerstaff, who died Wednesday in Ventura after a brief illness, was born on May 2, 1918, in Folsom, N.M., to Walter S. and Matilda Biggerstaff. He moved with his family to Winters, N.M., then to Esparto, Calif., and they later settled in Salem, Ore., where he graduated from high school and college.

Biggerstaff received a bachelor’s degree from Willamette University in Salem and a master’s degree from Oregon State University in Corvallis.

He went on to the University of Wisconsin in Madison and met Evelyn Zahradnik. They were married in 1942.

His graduate studies were interrupted by World War II, during which he served in the Army as a medical laboratory technician in Camp Bowie, Texas.

He resumed his graduate work at the University of Wisconsin after the war and received a doctoral degree in organic chemistry. He was hired by Fresno State University and taught for the next 34 years. He held various administrative positions, including department chairman and associate dean. His research and scientific publications centered around his specialty in the organic chemistry application of human cancer research.

His research and sabbaticals took him to Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York, UC Berkeley, and the University of Lund in Sweden.

After retiring, he and his wife built a home in Morro Bay in Central California, where they were active in the Estero Bay Methodist Church and enjoyed traveling. He researched and published a family genealogy and a historical study of his great uncle’s Civil War diary. Two years ago, he moved to Ventura.

He was preceded in death by his wife.

Biggerstaff is survived by three children, Mary Wisniewski of Rancho La Costa, Calif., Steven Biggerstaff of Ventura and Jennifer Biggerstaff of Sacramento, and four grandchildren.

Private family services will be held in Ventura. A memorial service in Fresno is planned at a later date.

In lieu of flowers, remembrances may be sent to the Warren R. and Evelyn M. Biggerstaff Memorial Scholarship Fund at University Development Office, California State University, Fresno, 5244 Jackson Ave., KC45, Fresno, CA 93740-9023.

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Arrangements are under the direction of the Ted Mayr Funeral Home in Ventura.