Forensic entomologist Bob Kimsey portraying "Dr. Death" at Briggs Hall during the annual UC Davis Picnic Day. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

Forensic Entomologist Bob Kimsey to Share Expertise

He's Part of a Vacaville Museum Industry Panel Discussion on Sept. 18 on 'Art of Death'

by By Kathy Keatley Garvey
September 10, 2025

Forensic entomologist Bob Kimsey in his habitat in his Briggs Hall office. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey) — Forensic entomologist Bob Kimsey in his habitat in his Briggs Hall office in 2019. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

Noted UC Davis forensic entomologist Robert “Bob” Kimsey, a past president of the North America Forensic Entomology Association (NAEA), will join seven death industry experts at the Vacaville Museum’s “Art of Death” panel discussion on Thursday, Sept. 18.

The event, open to the public, takes place from 5 to 7 p.m. in the Vacaville Museum, 213 Buck Ave., Vacaville, and is connected to the museum's ”The Art of Death” gallery exhibit. Tickets for the panel discussion are available at the museum or online at www.vacavillemuseum.org/events. General admission is $15. Admission for museum members is $12.

Panel members will each give a short presentation and then answer questions from the crowd. Other members of the panel are Amanda Kostenko, service manager at the Neptune Society of Northern California; Chris Donhost, coroner and funeral services liaison at Sierra Donor Services; Heather Strachan, general manager, Vacaville-Elmira Cemetery District; Sgt. Josie Strachan, chief deputy coroner at Nevada County Sheriff’s/Coroner’s Office; Deputy Jessica Dew, coroner investigator, Solano County Coroner's Office; Shannon Parra, lead embalmer at Bryan-Braker Funeral Home; and Vince Stone, managing funeral director at McCune Garden Chapel an Milton Carpenter Funeral Home.

The six-month gallery exhibit, which ends Nov. 15, zeroes in "on how people across time and cultures have sought to make sense of the mystery of death, with acceptance and fear intertwined with curiosity," said Vacaville Museum executive director Clara Dawson. Filtered through the lenses of art, history, science, and culture, "The Art of Death" explores the ways society depicts, honors, and confronts death “to reveal how our relationship with mortality continually evolves,” she said.

"This panel is a wonderful spotlight to celebrate everyone who has assisted in the creation of the exhibit," said Shelby Sorensen, Vacaville Museum curator.

UC Davis Alumnus

Kimsey, who served as NAEA president from 2014-2016, received his bachelor’s degree and doctorate in entomology from UC Davis. He joined the UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology faculty in 1990, and retired as an emeritus lecturer in June of 2024. Kimsey continues his research and public service and is highly sought for his expertise in public health entomology and arthropods of medical importance. He testifies in court cases involving a victim’s time of death.

Kimsey’s areas of expertise include blowfly orientation behavior, community ecology and succession, effects of potential evapotranspiration rate parsed from invertebrate scavenger effects on decomposition rate, and potential evapotranspiration rate as predictor of insect scavengers’ development rate.

Since 1990, Kimsey has taught more than 7000 students in classes ranging from beginning entomology, forensic entomology and animal biology to “Entomological Evidence in Fire Death Investigations” to “Biology of Parasites.”

For decades, he co-chaired the department's UC Davis Picnic Day committee and staffed the forensic entomology table at Briggs Hall as "Dr. Death."

'The Fly Man of Alcatraz'

As the advisor to the UC Davis Entomology Club, Kimsey hosted the group on numerous field and collecting trips, including scientific excursions to Alcatraz. Kimsey is known as "The Fly Man of Alcatraz" in conjunction with his fly research that began on the island in July 2007 when he received a call about the annoying flies from entomologist Bruce Badzik, then integrated pest management coordinator with the National Park Service, Golden Gate National Recreation Area. Kimsey identified the troubling fly as a “kelp fly” (Fucillia thinobia) or “cormorant fly” in the family Anthomyiidae. The fly, he said, lives in purge-soaked soil under dead cormorants found in rookeries all around the island. It does not exist in any other place.”

A U.S. Army veteran, Kimsey served as an instructor of medical entomology, epidemiology and preventive medicine in the Academy of Health Sciences from 1971-1974.

Outstanding Teacher and Mentor

Known as an outstanding teacher and mentor, Kimsey received numerous honors, including the 2019 UC Davis Outstanding Faculty Advisor of the Year; the 2019 Eleanor and Harry Walker Faculty Advising Award from the College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences; the 2020 regional faculty advisor award from NACADA, the Global Community for Academic Advising; and the 2020 Distinction in Student Mentoring Award from the Pacific Branch, Entomological Society of America.

The Vacaville Museum gallery is open on Thursdays and Fridays from 1 to 4:30 p.m. and on Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Admission to the gallery is free but donations are encouraged. For hours and more information, access the website at https://vacavillemuseum.org/.