Norris. C. Hundley, Jr., a professor emeritus of history who was widely known for his work on western water rights, died April 28 in a Santa Barbara long-term care facility after a protracted battle with Lewy body dementia. He was 77.
 
Hundley's published work on the history of western water rights began with his1966 book "Dividing the Waters: A Century of Controversy between the United States and Mexico" and continued through "The Great Thirst: Californians and Water, 1770-1990s," an enduring classic first published in 1992 and reissued in 2001. For close to 30 years, he served the editor of the Pacific Historical Review, the scholarly journal of the Pacific Coast Branch of the American Historical Association. Under his leadership, the journal embraced environmental and ethnic studies.
 
He also served as president of the Western Historical Association.
 
"Norris gained renown for his high standards and careful attention to writing style," said David Myers, history department chair. "He will be sorely missed."
 
Born in Houston, Texas, in 1935, Hundley was the oldest of seven children of Norris Hundley, a petroleum engineer, and his wife Helen, a nurse.
 
Hundley and Carol Marie Beckquist were high school sweethearts, having met in 1954 and married three years later.
 
"It was a match made in heaven," recalled Carol Hundley, a retired music teacher.
 
Hundley graduated from Whittier College in 1958 and received his Ph.D. in history in 1963 from UCLA. He taught at the University of Houston for a year before returning to UCLA in 1964, from which he retired three decades later.
 
Hundley wrote more than 100 books and essays. To honor his contributions, "The Norris and Carol Hundley Award" is conferred annually by the Pacific Coast Branch of the American Historical Association to the most distinguished book written by a scholar residing in the trans-Mississippi West and Western Canada.
 
Albert Camarillo, who was one of Hundley’s Ph.D. students and is now a history professor at Stanford, said he will be planning sessions devoted to Hundley's legacy at the 2014 Western History Association annual meeting in Newport Beach and the 2014 Pacific Coast Branch of the American Historical Association annual meeting in Portland.
 
Hundley is survived by his wife; his daughters, Wendy Harris and Jacqueline Reid; four grandchildren and three step-grandchildren. 
 
A memorial Mass will be held at Our Lady Mount Carmel Catholic Church on Wednesday, May 22, at 1 p.m. at 1300 East Valley Road in Santa Barbara. A reception will follow at Stella Mare’s 50 Los Patos in Santa Barbara. In lieu of flowers, the family asks for contributions to be made to the to Lewy Body Dementia Association, Inc. It can be reached at (404) 935-6444.
 
The UCLA Department of History posted this obituary.