William_Penn_Mott_Jr.

William Penn Mott Jr. (October 19, 1909 – September 21, 1992), was a trained landscape architect who rose to direct the California Department of Parks and Recreation and U.S. National Park Service. He earned bachelor and master degrees from Michigan State University and University of California, respectively. After graduation, he worked for the San Francisco office of the National Park Service (NPS) as a landscape architect from 1933 to 1940. He then became director of the Oakland, California Zoo. In 1962, he was hired as director of the East Bay Regional Park District until 1967. California Governor Ronald Reagan named Mott as the Director of the California Park Service in 1967, where he remained until 1985, when President Reagan named him to head the U.S. National Park Service (NPS). Mott served at the Federal level until President George H. W. Bush nominated a replacement for him in 1989. He continued to work for the NPS as a consultant until his death in 1992. His last major project was to transition the Presidio in San Francisco into a national park.