James B. Quinn; Flood District Official

James B. Quinn, who guided the Ventura County Flood Control District through its darkest hours during the disastrous 1969 floods, died Monday of respiratory failure. He was 80.

Quinn, of Oxnard, was director of the district for 10 years, retiring in 1974. He headed the county agency during the winter of 1969, when torrential rains resulted in massive flooding of the county’s two major rivers, killing at least 11 people and destroying Ventura Harbor.

His son, James Jr. of Los Alamitos, said it was a difficult period for his father.

“I remember that he didn’t get much sleep,” James Quinn Jr. said. “He was going 20 hours a day.”

As a result of the floods, the Public Works Department improved several flood control projects under Quinn’s guidance, his son said, adding that his father’s goal was to prevent a repeat of the deadly floods.

Quinn also was a past member of the United Water Conservation District, elected in 1975 and serving until 1983. He was a former commander of the Naval Construction Battalion Center in Port Hueneme, retiring in 1953, his son said.

Quinn graduated with honors from Purdue University with a degree in civil engineering in 1933 and was a member of the Mensa Society.

In addition to his son, he is survived his wife, Alberta; a daughter, two sisters and several grandchildren and great-grandchildren.

Burial-at-sea arrangements are being handled by the Neptune Society of Santa Barbara.