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Ray Brandes, 90. history and archaeology professor

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Ray Brandes was most in his element unearthing the past. Literally.

In the late 1960s, the USD professor and historian directed archaeological digs and research for Old Town State Historic Park including the Spanish fort Royal Presidio of San Diego and the Mission San Diego de Alcala on Presidio Hill. In the 1980s, he involved his students in studies of more than 250 buildings in San Diego’s Gaslamp district.

Over his 30-plus year career, Dr. Brandes’ surveys of historic buildings covered every corner of the county, from Rancho Santa Fe and El Cajon to downtown San Diego and Coronado.

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“He was without a doubt San Diego’s preeminent historian,” said Scott Moomjian, a land-use attorney who was Dr. Brandes’ graduate assistant and university archivist assistant in the early 1990s. “I believe that he is responsible for having listed more San Diego properties on the local, state, and/or national register of historic sites than any other individual.

“… I found him to be a brilliant, consummate professional, fully dedicated to understanding, documenting and interpreting San Diego’s history.”

Dr. Brandes died of natural causes April 16 at his home in San Diego. He was 90.

He was born Raymond Stewart Brandes on Jan. 2, 1924, in Coronado, the oldest of three to Theodore Brandes and Mary Peters. Raised in Barrio Logan and Old Town, he was a direct descendant of the Machado family, founders of Old Town.

As an Army technician during World War II with the 547th Anti-Aircraft Artillery Automatic Weapons Battalion, 95th Infantry Division, he saw combat in five European countries.

Following his discharge as a master sergeant, he went to work with the U.S. National Park Service in Globe, Ariz. His archaeological survey of the San Carlos Indian Reservation uncovered one of the earliest ball courts built by the Hohokam people, dating from about 700-1200.

In the late 1950s and early 1960s, he received a bachelor’s degree and his Ph.D. in historic site archaeology and Western American history from the University of Arizona. While he was a student, his first wife, Imogene Lorane Scott, and his aunt and niece were killed by a drunken driver. He and his 1½-year-old daughter survived the crash; thereafter, he took her everywhere he went, including to class.

During this time, he became Arizona’s second state historian and was assistant director of the Arizona Historical Society.

Dr. Brandes became a professor of history and archaeology at the University of San Diego in the mid-1960s. He retired 31 years later as dean of the graduate school, having directed more than 125 master’s theses relating to the American West and San Diego.

Marie Lia worked with Dr. Brandes as a student on identifying and analyzing the historical resources of more than 300 buildings in Centre City for the Centre City Development Corp. from the late 1980s until 2005. She credits him with creating the protocol for doing the analysis and setting up the research structure.

“He was great to work with,” Lia said. “I think he helped develop the whole historic-preservation movement in San Diego and he trained a good number of graduate students and those students are out now working in the field.”

In addition to the hundreds of reports and articles about San Diego’s historic buildings, Dr. Brandes authored 21 books, including “Coronado: We Remember” and “San Diego: An Illustrated History.”

In 1966, he founded the San Diego Congress of History, and in 1996, helped establish the San Diego Baseball Historical Society. He was a member of the National Gaslamp Quarter Historic Committee for 10 years as well as a member of the Western Historical Association, the Western Writers of America, the San Diego Historical Society and the Tucson Corral of The Westerners, a group of aficionados of the lore of the American West.

In 1989, Dr. Brandes was awarded the Distinguished Historian Medal by the University of Arizona. In 1996, he received the Medal of San Diego de Alcala for distinguished service from the University of San Diego.

Dr. Brandes is survived by his wife of 51 years, the former Irma Montijo; daughters Elena Abbott, of Tucson, Elisa Brandes, of El Cajon, Laura Falzon Dondino, of San Diego, Claudia Brandes, of San Diego, Marta Brandes-Miesner, of La Mesa, and Paula Diamond, of San Diego; a son, Ray Brandes, of San Diego; a sister, Joanne Shortt, of Albuquerque, N.M.; a brother, Theodore Brandes, of Sedalia, Mo.; 10 grandchildren; and three great-grandchildren.

Services have been held.

The family suggests memorial donations to the Coronado Historical Association.

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