Howard Edward Dorsey (July 10, 1904 – August 7, 1937) was a hydraulic engineer who was a member of the Los Angeles City Council in 1937.

[1][2] For 18 months he was "in charge of investigation" on the West Coast for the U.S. Treasury Department, and then for five years he was with the Bureau of Water and Power, when he was superintendent of construction, street, storm-drain and improvement work.

[1] Dorsey, 33, was killed in a "flaming automobile plunge" on August 7, 1937, when the car he was driving went over a 1,600-foot cliff at the edge of Rim of the World Highway in the Angeles National Forest on the way to Big Bear Valley.

Trees were set alight by the burning gasoline, attracting the attention of motorists who notified authorities, who relied on a squad of California Conservation Corps youths to fight the blaze.

[2] A funeral service at Calvary Baptist Church conducted by H. M. S. Richards of the radio Voice of Prophecy attracted some thousand mourners.

[5] In his few weeks on the council, he was able to speak once at a gathering of property owners and businessmen on the need for a junior college in East Los Angeles "to save students' transportation time and to lessen the traffic accident toll.