Coby Lorenzen Jr. of Carmel Valley, died July 7, 2001, at Monterey Convalescent Hospital. He was 95. Born on Nov. 30, 1905, in Oakland, to Coby and Catherine Lorenzen, he was the youngest of five children.

He grew up in Oakland, attending Lafayette Elementary School and Oakland High School, graduating in 1925. He then attended classes at UC Berkeley where he earned a bachelor of science degree in mechanical engineering in 1929.

He served in the Army Air Force Reserve, attaining the rank of 1st Lieutenant. After completing his training, he was sent to Langley, Va., as a junior mechanical engineer for the national advisory committee for aeronautics (the predecessor of NASA). He was assigned to a team doing cutting-edge atmospheric wind tunnel research and he helped design and build the first vertical wind tunnel in the U.S.

In 1931, he decided he wanted to pursue a master's degree and returned to UC Berkeley. He had to work part-time to help finance his studies, so he obtained a job in the college's mechanical engineering lab, where he earned 75 cents per hour. Using the knowledge and skills gained during his work at Langley, he designed and built a wind tunnel that was used in teaching and research programs at UC Berkeley for many years. Another one of his lab projects was to gather data on the breaking point of test cylinders of concrete. This data then was used in designing structurally sound concrete piers for the Golden Gate Bridge.

It was also at this time that he developed an interest in horology.

He received his master of science degree in mechanical engineering from UC Berkeley in 1934 and joined the UC Berkeley civil engineering department as a research assistant. The following year, he took a job as a research engineer for the California Forest and Range Experiment Station, also at Berkeley. His job included conducting summer fieldwork at Mount Shasta where he gathered data on the effects of wind, slope, temperature and humidity on the progression of wildfires. This data then was studied and applied to fire pre-suppression techniques and strategies. Another project he was involved with at Shasta, was the design and use of fire-suppressant foam "bombs" that could be dropped from airplanes.

Shortly after he began his forest service job at Berkeley, he met and became smitten by a secretary at the experiment station named Ina Smith. Ina was a divorcee with two young children, Jackie (age 7) and Rob (age 9). They were married Aug. 7, 1937, in Carson City, Nev.

That same year, he was hired as an associate in agricultural engineering at UC Davis and he was assigned to work on an orchard-heating project being conducted at the UC Riverside Citrus Experiment Station.

In the fall of 1938, he and Ina were anticipating the arrival of a new addition to their family, but he had to depart for Riverside prior to the event. Their son, Don, was born in October and shortly thereafter Ina and her three children boarded the train and headed down to Riverside to be with him. The family returned to Davis in the spring of 1939 and spent the summer in a rental home on University Avenue, but then returned to Riverside in the fall as his research on the orchard-heating project continued.

He and his family came back to Davis for good in the spring of 1940. In 1941, they bought a lot on Oak Avenue and together drew up plans for a home of their own.

Also in 1941, as a result of his earlier flying experiences in the Army Air Force Reserve, he followed through with visions of becoming a pilot and obtained a student pilot's license. He took flying lessons for several months at the University Airport in Davis, and while he enjoyed the experience, he found that he did not have sufficient time to devote to the endeavor.

His participation in the orchard heating project led to the development of systems to measure the microclimates of various fruits. During the 1940s, he and his colleague, Ben Moses, developed a "tunnel dryer" to help farmers dry sacks of harvested grain. In the early to mid-1950s, he and his colleagues, Lloyd Lamouria and Ralph Parks, developed roll-over protection structures for farm equipment that greatly improved tractor operator safety. The American Society of Agricultural Engineers designated this achievement as an "Historic Landmark of Agricultural Engineering" and in 1986 dedicated a bronze plaque to the three men and their work. The plaque was placed on display in UCD's Bainer Hall engineering building and the UCD department of agricultural engineering honored the men with a testimonial dinner in 1988.

He also was involved with the development of several mechanical harvesters at UCD, including an onion harvester and a machine to cut and pit apricots, but he is perhaps best known for his work on the development of the mechanical tomato harvester during the 1950s and 60s.

The tomato harvester was a cooperative effort between the UCD agricultural engineering and vegetable crops departments and it marked the first time a collaborative effort between two UC departments had ever been undertaken. He was responsible for developing a machine that could mechanically harvest tomatoes, while Jack Hanna from vegetable crops was responsible for breeding a tomato that would ripen uniformly and withstand being harvested by machinery. As a result of the success of these interdisciplinary efforts, UC entered into a production agreement with the Blackwelder Manufacturing Company of Rio Vista and in the early 1960s tomato harvesters with the "UC-Blackwelder" logo began appearing in tomato fields.

His engineering skills led to 20 U.S. patents for the university. For his contributions to the development of the tomato harvester, he was awarded the John Scott Medal by the city of Philadelphia in 1976 and the Cyrus Hall McCormick Medal by the American Society of Agricultural Engineers in 1981.

During his tenure as a professor of agricultural engineering at UCD, he taught both lower and upper division courses.

In 1962, he took a sabbatical leave from UC Davis to collaborate with fellow agricultural engineers in Australia and Germany. He went with his wife and youngest son, Ken (then 13) for a combined business and pleasure trip.

He served as chairman of the department of agricultural engineering at UCD from 1963 to 1968, and he spent a significant amount of his time involved with the planning and justification for the new Bainer Hall engineering building. He retired from UCD in November of 1969.

He belonged to several organizations: he joined the American Society of Agricultural Engineers in 1942 and was made an ASAE Fellow in 1967; he was elected to membership in Sigma Xi in 1945; and he was a member of the American Society for Engineering Education and the Commonwealth Club of California. He became a registered professional engineer in mechanical engineering in 1949. For a few years after coming to Davis, he served as a member of the UCD volunteer fire department. He also served as a member of the Davis Planning Commission from 1962 to 1966.

He and his wife both loved the outdoors and made camping, hiking, backpacking and boating a regular part of their summers. Fishing in mountain lakes and streams was always an enjoyable part of family vacations and there were many competitions to see who could catch the biggest or the most fish. In later years, Coby and Ina bought a trailer and spent summer vacations traveling in the Western U.S. and Canada.

After his retirement from UCD, he and Ina moved to Carmel Valley. He kept his engineering skills sharp by acting as a consultant on a variety of interesting projects, as well as improving things around their new home. They also traveled to such places as the Caribbean, Kenya and China. Not long after retiring, he decided to try his hand at painting; first with watercolors, then with oils. He also enjoyed golf.

After Ina became invalid during the last few years of her life, he was her sole caregiver. He also was a patient and caring father who provided immeasurable help to his children whenever they needed assistance with their homework (especially math), and his creativity and skills were valuable assets to draw upon whenever help was needed with a school or scouting project.

He is survived by his two children, Donald Lorenzen and his wife, Nancy, of Saratoga; and Kenneth Lorenzen and his wife, Vivien, of Davis; his two step-children, Robert Z. Smith and his wife, Nancy, of American Canyon; and Jacklyn R. Ottoson and her husband, Alton, of Turlock; four grandchildren, Eric, Matthew, Scott and Ashley Lorenzen; and eight step-grandchildren, Susan, Steven and Janice Ottoson, Lynda, Tommy, Carol and Kevin Smith, and Lisa Hamm; a niece, Gayle Mendoza, also survives him.

He was preceded in death by his wife of 63 years, Ina, his brothers, Daniel and Lawrence Lorenzen and his sisters, Sara Lorenzen and Corinne Meyer. He was also preceded in death by a niece, Betty J. Lorenzen.

In keeping with the wishes of the family, there will be no services.