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| Robert Luke, as inmate of Alcatraz (1954-1959) and today. |
DAVIS--Former Alcatraz inmate Robert Luke, author of "Entombed in Alcatraz," will speak at the UC Davis Entomology Club meeting on Friday, Jan. 13 in Giedt 1002 on the UC Davis campus.
Luke will speak from noon to 1 p.m. about his experiences on The Rock. A book signing (bring your own copy) will take place from 3:30 to 4:30 p.m. in the Bohart Museum of Entomology, 1124 Academic Surge, California Drive.
Luke, convicted of armed robbery, did time on Alcatraz from 1954 to 1959. He was known as Alcatraz Inmate No. 1118AZ. "I was convicted of bank robbery with an automatic weapon and was sent to Alcatraz for attempted escape from Leavenworth Penitentiary in Kansas," said Luke, who now lives in Northern California and is a National Park Service volunteer on The Rock.
The Entomology Club and Entomology Graduate Student Association (EGSA) invited Luke to give the seminar, said UC Davis forensic entomologist Robert Kimsey, club advisor.
"The students met Robert during their 2011 retreat to Alcatraz Island, and learned much of the intimate details of Alcatraz prison life and his extraordinary experiences as an inmate as he toured them around the main cell block," Kimsey said. "Robert and the students have remained in contact ever since."
Kimsey does research on the nuisance flies that plaque staff and tourists on Alcatraz.
(Editor's Note: Giedt Hall, named for mechanical and aeronautical engineering professor emertius Warren Geidt and his wife, Leta, is located north of Kemper Hall, in the UC Davis engineering/physical sciences district.)
Related links:
Robert Kimsey, Fly Man of Alcatraz
--Kathy Keatley Garvey
Communications specialist
UC Davis Department of Entomology
(530) 754-6894
