Paul S. Visher, 80, of Cannon Beach, died Thursday, Jan. 16, 2003, in Cannon Beach.

Mr. Visher was born Nov. 22, 1922, in Bloomington, Ind., to Stephen and Martha Bolks Visher.

In November 1952, he married Margot Landon in Yreka, Calif. She survives, residing in Cannon Beach.

Mr. Visher graduated from Indiana University in 1942. During World War II, he served with the U.S. Navy as a research chemist before attending Princeton University and Massachusetts Institute of Technology and becoming an electronics officer staff commander in charge of radar in the Pacific Submarine Fleet. Following the war, he attended Yale Law School, and spent a summer crewing a tuna boat out of Astoria and another in Europe as part of the Marshall Plan. He then worked as a lawyer in San Francisco and took another summer job as a mule packer in the Sierra Nevadas. After a bout of tuberculosis, he bought a cattle ranch in Hornbrook, Calif. In 1956, he moved to Los Angeles and worked for Hughes Aircraft until 1987. During this time, he served as Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense in charge of the fallout shelter program. Upon retirement, he was a consultant in London for European and Middle-Eastern satellite programs. In 1990, he moved to Cannon Beach. He was tsunami coordinator for Clatsop County and received a National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration award for his tsunami studies. He also served on the Regional Strategies Economic Development Board, the Clatsop County Data Processing Advisory Commission, the Clatsop County Recreation Lands Advisory Board, the Watership Council for Ecola Creek, the Oregon Department of Transportation Project Development Team for the Arch Cape Tunnel, the Blue Ribbon County Fairgrounds Committee and the Cannon Beach/Willamette Coordination Group.

He enjoyed architecture, optics, swimming, mountain climbing and philosophizing.

In addition to his wife, he is survived by two daughters and sons-in-law, Peggy and Douglas Saksa of Bainbridge Island, Wash., and Sally Visher and Joe Cohen of Tualatin; two sons and daughters-in-law, John and Elizabeth Visher and David and Sandra Visher, all of Malibu, Calif.; two sisters, Mary Mayer of Sausalito, Calif., and Peg Visher of Fort Collins, Colo.; and 14 grandchildren.

A celebration of life is from 3 to 5 p.m. March 8 at his Cannon Beach home.

Memorial contributions may be made to the Cannon Beach Library or Planned Parenthood, in care of Hughes-Ransom Mortuary, 220 N. Holladay, Seaside, OR 97138.