Hotchkis, Preston, 1893-

Born in Los Angeles, California, in 1893, Preston Hotchkis graduated from the University of California in 1916. After serving in the Navy during World War I he studied law at USC and was admitted to the California Bar in 1920. He was the founder of several companies, including Pacific Finance Corp. (1920), Pacific Indemnity Co. (1926), and Founders Insurance Co. (1946), and served as a U.S. Representative to the United Nations Economic and Social Council, as a University of California Regent, president and director of the California State Chamber of Commerce, first president of the Colorado River Association, and chairman of the Southland Water Committee. In these last two capacities he played a large role in the transfer of Colorado River water to Southern California and helped to pass Proposition 1, the Burns-Porter Act, which approved bond financing for construction of the California Acqueduct in 1960. Hotchkis died in San Marino, California, in January 1989.