Dennis Lee Price

Dr. Price was the third of four siblings born to Walter and Wilma Price. He was born in Alberta, Canada. The family moved to California when he was approximately three-years-old and settled in Long Beach. As a youth he worked delivering newspapers, sold magazines door-to-door, mowed lawns and raised rabbits selling manure and hides. As a young man, he held jobs with Standard Oil, Shell, Guy F Atkinson construction, and a variety of other jobs.

Dr. Price graduated from Woodrow Wilson High School, Long Beach, CA.  He earned a Bachelor of Arts in the School of Religion from Bob Jones University in South Carolina, a Bachelor of Divinity and Master of Arts in Religion at Berkeley School of Theology, a Master of Arts in Psychology at Long Beach State University, and a Ph.D. in Industrial Engineering from Texas A&M University (1974).

Dr. Price retired as an esteemed professor emeritus from the Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University in 1996. His career began in pastoral ministries in the greater Los Angeles area before transitioning into industry and the academia. He served as a senior engineer for the Martin Marietta Corporation in Orlando, Florida form 1969-1972. At Virginia Polytechnic University he worked his way to full professorship, was celebrated as Educator of the Year by the United States Systems Safety Society, 1994.  He jointly published a textbook, Occupational Safety Management and Engineering, fifth edition (Prentice Hall, 2001), used in universities around the world. He has written hundreds of technical publications, journals, reports, and book chapters. As a researcher, he was awarded grants from the U.S. Navy, IBM, the Virginia Department of Transportation and the National Institute for the Occupational Safety and Health.

A highlight was his nomination by the Academy of Sciences to serve on the U.S. Nuclear Waste Technical Review Board, and appointed by Presidents Ronald Reagan and George H. W. Bush. He was selected to be included several Who’s Who in America, in American Education, in Science and Engineering, in the South and Southwest and in the World.

He also authored, Why Christ is the Only Way (2003), Death, That’s Life (2005), and Chasing the Fourth Horse (2009). Dr. Price was a member of the Grace Community Church of Ramona, the American Society of Safety Engineers, the International System Safety Society, the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society, and Alpha Pi Mu.

Dr. Price leaves behind a daughter (Denice L. Tsugawa of Hawaii), son (Philip W. Price of Florida), three grandchildren (Jessica J. Kotler, Allison C. Thomas, Keanu R. Thomas), one great grandchild (Ren Kotler), a sister (June W. Graham of California) and brother (Roy C. Price of California). He joins his beloved wife, Barbara Ann Shelton Price (married for 46 years), and family members with our Lord. His wife will be with him in his final resting place near his mother and father in La Mirada, California.

Bonham Bros & Stewart Mortuary and Cremation Service is assisting the family.

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