Catherine "Kay" Kerr of El Cerrito, who co-founded Save the Bay and thereby helped stop further infill of the Bay and massive development along the shore, died Dec. 18 at age 99.

She "died peacefully at her home in El Cerrito surrounded by her loving family," according to a news release from the University of California.

She was the wife of the influential UC President Clark Kerr, who created the state's Master Plan for Higher Education and presided over the university during the turbulent time of the Free Speech Movement. He died in 2003.

Alarmed by a City of Berkeley plan to double its size and tax base by filling in 2,000 acres of the Bay, Kerr joined with Sylvia McLaughlin and Esther Gulick to start a movement to "save the Bay."

They were alarmed also by "an Army Corps of Engineers' map that had been printed in the Oakland Tribune showing that San Francisco Bay could end up being a narrow shipping channel by the year 2020 because of planned Bay fill" and by "the 40 burning garbage dumps ringing the shoreline," according to a tribute to Kay Kerr published Wednesday by Save the Bay's "Salty Blog." 

The movement led to state legislation and other reforms, including creation of the Bay Conservation and Development Commission (BCDC), that imposed significant restrictions on bayfill and development.

Kay Kerr found that the battle to conserve the Bay was a continuous struggle, she said in a 1988 lecture quoted in the Save the Bay tribute:

When we started out in 1961, we thought all we had to do was to get a good law and the Bay would be saved. What we have learned is that the law itself must be saved, that this requires constant vigilance against those that would change or weaken it. What we have learned is that the Bay is never saved. It is, instead, always in the process of being saved. That is why we have been so heavily involved for all of these years, and why our successors will be involved far into the future.

The Save the Bay tribute also quotes Sylvia McLaughlin remembering her friend and provides a comments section where memories and comments from others can be posted.

UC President Mark Yudof, in a letter informing the regents of Kerr's death, said, "Mrs. Kerr was an extraordinary woman, a devoted counselor and partner to her husband, Clark Kerr, and a dedicated environmentalist, who throughout her long life earned the deep respect and admiration of all who knew her or knew of her."

A graduate of Stanford, she received several awards for her work, including the Berkeley Citation in 1974, according to her entry in the The Marquis Complete Who's Who, 2010.

UC noted that Kay Kerr is survived by three children: daughter Caroline Gage of El Cerrito and sons Clark E. Kerr of Danville and Alexander W. Kerr of Australia; seven grandchildren and three great-grandchildren.

The family requests that donations in Kerr's name be made to Save the Bay, 350 Frank H. Ogawa Plaza, Suite 900, Oakland, CA 94612; www.savesfbay.org, (510) 452-9261, according to the UC release.