Professor emeritus W. Turrentine "Turpie" Jackson, who coupled innovative scholarship on the American West with a "fierce affection" for students and was a pioneer of public history, died Sunday at Sutter Davis Hospital of complications from abdominal surgery. He was 85.

Memorial services will be held at the Davis Community Church at 2 p.m. Saturday, June 3.

Jackson was one of a select group of internationally renowned Western historians who argued that the West exhibited important developments in modern America–that the West was settled not by rugged individualists but by capitalists, government surveyors and people who took advantage of federal subsidies.

"His contributions went a long way toward making the American West one of the most innovative fields in the 1970s," says Louis Warren, a UC Davis associate professor of history and a specialist in the American West.

With scholarly interest in the transportation, natural resources and economics of the American West, Jackson was author of three prize-winning books, including Wagon Roads West (1952), Treasure Hill: Portrait of a Silver Mining Camp (1963) and The Enterprising Scot: Investors in the American West after 1873 (1968). He was co-author or editor of numerous other books and articles and served on the editorial board of several publications.

Jackson’s now famous research for Wells Fargo Bank highlighted his own pioneering work in public history. As a consulting historian to the company for 20 years, he had 13 monographs and articles on the company’s history in the Western states published in scholarly journals. Taking on other projects for law firms, environmental consultants and government agencies, he became a partner in JRP Historical Consulting Services in Davis. He retired from the company in 1990.

Born in Ruston, La., Jackson grew up in El Paso, Texas, and earned his Ph.D. at the University of Texas in 1940. He taught at UCLA, Iowa State University and the University of Chicago before joining the newly established College of Letters and Science at UC Davis in 1951.

He lectured at 28 universities in the United States, Canada, Australia and Europe. The United States Information Service appointed him to the Falkenstein Seminar for American Studies in Germany, and in 1978 the Department of State sponsored him as a distinguished American specialist to lecture at 12 European universities on the frontier experience in the United States. Designated a Master Teacher by the National Endowment for the Humanities, he taught eight summer seminars for college and public school teachers on the Davis campus.

Eager for others to share his passion for the history of the American West, Jackson served as a member or consultant to several government agencies and other organizations, including the California History Commission and the California Heritage Council. In 1987, the California Committee for the Promotion of History presented him with its Award of Distinction.

"He was very interested in having people see the ties to the Old West in the West that was around them," Warren says. "He wanted people to understand who they are and where they are."

As a professor at UC Davis, Jackson taught thousands of undergraduate and graduate students. "He was a very inspiring teacher and someone who had a fierce affection for his students," says Alan Taylor, professor of history at UC Davis.

Jackson is described as a man with a deep commitment to his students–both graduate and undergraduate students. "Education was really his life and love," says Barbara Jackson, his wife of 57 years. "He always said he was one of the fortunate ones who was paid to do what he loved to do."

Jackson won two teaching awards: the Academic Senate’s Distinguished Teaching Award in 1973-74 and the Associated Students of UC Davis teaching award in 1982.

For 47 years, he served as chapter adviser to the Beta Epsilon chapter of Theta Xi fraternity. "Turpie was the rock to which we all clung, our mentor, our moral compass, our cheerleader both during our college days and after," says Chris Tooker, president of the chapter’s alumni association. "He saw the boys as his boys."

With no previous association with the fraternity, Jackson served on its national board and was recognized nationally for his contributions.

"There was such deep mutual affection between him and his students even though there was some 60 years difference between them," says Taylor, who saw Jackson interact with the fraternity members.

The Jackson family also has a legacy of generosity to the university. In 1960, Jackson’s mother, Luther Jackson, established the William Turrentine Jackson Scholarship in honor of her son, who was then chair of the history department. Currently valued at $2,500, the scholarship is awarded annually to an upper division student majoring in history who has a demonstrated interest in U.S. history.

In 1997, Jackson and his wife endowed the W. Turrentine Jackson Chair in the History of the Western United States. They have also lent support to the Center for the Arts.

He is survived by his wife and extended family in California, Texas, Mississippi, Alabama, Nevada and Washington, D.C.

In lieu of flowers, the family requests that memorial gifts be made to the UC Davis Foundation to support either the Center for the Arts or a new W. Turrentine Jackson Graduate Fellowship in U.S. History.

Checks should be made payable to the UC Davis Foundation, in care of the College of Letters and Science Dean’s Office, University of California, One Shields Ave., Davis, CA 95616.