BRABHAM, WILLIAM C.

William C. Brabham, director of the Iowa Conservation Commission, died of cancer Sunday [January 13, 1980] at Iowa Lutheran Hospital in Des Moines.

Brabham, 58, of West Des Moines, had returned Friday from a trip to Orlando, Fla., where he had attended a meeting of the North American Game Breeders and Shooting Preserves Inc.

He was named director of the commission June 19 after serving as acting director following Fred Priewert’s resignation March 1.

Brabham began working for the commission as a unit game manager at Sweet Marsh in Bremer County in 1950 following his graduation from Iowa State University in Ames. He advanced through the commission’s ranks, becoming superintendent of game in 1959, director of planning in 1965, and deputy director in 1971.

Commission officials said on Sunday that no acting director had been named. The Conservation Commission will select a new director, probably in the spring. The search for a successor to Priewert took more than three months.

A native of Elkader, Brabham was a member of the National and Iowa Wildlife Federations, the Izaak Walton League, the Masons, and the Methodist Church. He was a veteran of World War II. He also was a member of the Missouri River Basin Commission.

Brabham is survived by his wife, Dorothy; two daughters, Judy of Baltimore, Md., and Jean Ann Gardner of West Des Moines; and two grandchildren.

Funeral arrangements had not been made late Sunday.