Kellam de Forest Obituary - Visitation & Funeral Information

Kellam de Forest, Santa Barbara native son, died on January 19 from complications of COVID-19 at Cottage Hospital. He was born in that same hospital on November 11, 1926 to landscape architects Lockwood and Elizabeth Kellam de Forest. Born eight weeks premature and weighing only 2 pounds, he was the smallest baby ever to survive at Cottage at that time. Kellam attended Crane School, Thacher School, and, after a year serving his country stateside during WWII, graduated from Yale University in 1949. He was working at the desk at San Ysidro Ranch when he met Margaret (Peggy) MacCormick. They married in 1952 and moved to Los Angeles, where Kellam established an independent business conducting legal, factual, and historical research for writers and producers in the nascent television industry. Over the next four decades, de Forest Research contributed to the authenticity and verisimilitude of hundreds of motion pictures, including acclaimed classics like “Chinatown” and “All the President’s Men,” as well as thousands of episodes of television, beginning with “The Untouchables” and “Profiles in Courage,” carrying on through several generations of Star Trek. After Kellam retired in 1992, he and Peggy returned to Santa Barbara, where Kellam devoted the rest of his long life as a tireless advocate for his beloved hometown’s distinctive history, character, and natural beauty. An active board member of the Pearl Chase Society, he attended and always offered historic preservation advice for the monthly civic meetings of The Mission Canyon Association, Architectural Review Board, the SB Historic Landmarks Commission, the County Historic Landmarks Advisory Commission, the City Planning Commission, the Mission Heritage Trail Association, the Board of Architectural Review and various Neighborhood Associations. He personally wrote all of the Pearl Chase Society historic preservation letters to the above design review boards. When major city development projects appeared or were appealed to City Council, Kellam was always a pivotal speaker, as well as for the County Board of Supervisors. Kellam was known and loved for his sharp, inquisitive mind, his exceptional memory, and his dogged research skills, as well as his gentle dignity. He will be sadly missed by his three children, Ann, Carmaig, and Elizabeth de Forest, their spouses, and six grandchildren, along with a great-grandchild-to-be -- as well as by his dear friends in Santa Barbara, especially the preservation community for whom he served as historic memory and conscience for the past 30 years. The family is especially grateful to the staffs of Wood Glen Hall, The Californian, and Cottage Hospital for their loving care in his final years, months, and days. Proceeded in death by his wife, Peggy, his brother, Lockwood and his son-in-law, Michael. The family requests donations in Kellam’s name be made to the Pearl Chase Society, P.O. Box 92121, Santa Barbara, CA 93190, or The Cottage Hospital Foundation, https://www.cottagehealth.org/donate/

Kellam de Forest

November 11, 1926 - January 19, 2021

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