Stewart R. Wallace — 1919–2009 - Society of Economic Geologists

JULY 2009 No 78 SEG NEWSLETTER 59
Ernest Ohle struggled with the general
difficulties that old age brings after his
90 th birthday a year ago, and a mild
heart attack and subsequent kidney failure
in October further sapped his
strength; Ernie died on April 27, 2009. He
was surrounded by a loving extended
family, his partner of the last six years,
Ann James, and friends from Colorado
Springs and the SEG.
Ernie’s life was one that was fully lived
—in industry, academia, publications,
and through his family, church, and SEG.
He was born in St. Louis, Missouri, on
December 17, 1917, grew up there, and
earned his A.B. and M.S. degrees in geology
from Washington University in 1938
and 1940, respectively. Afterward, he
attended Harvard University, receiving
an M.A. degree in 1941, and he worked
through the war years for American Zinc
Company in Tennessee, Missouri, and
Arizona, returning to Harvard in 1947 to
1948 as a teaching fellow under Hugh
McKinstry. He received a Ph.D. from
Harvard in 1950.
A brilliant mining and exploration
career followed, with St. Joseph Lead in
the SE Missouri lead belt (1948–1957),
then as chief geologist for the Copper
Range Company in White Pine, Michigan
(1957–1961), and as assistant chief geologist
with Hanna Mining Company in
Cleveland (1961–1972). His last 3 years
with Hanna were as evaluation manager
(1969–1972), and he remained with
Hanna as consulting geologist for six
more (1972–1978).
Ernie was a general consultant, geoscientist,
scholar, researcher, and advisor for
another 20 years. Through most of his
adult life, he belonged to the professional
organizations SEG, AIME, AAPG, ASM,
and AIPG. He was a perseverant and
imaginative scientist and scholar, a
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DEATHS (continued)
ERNEST LINWOOD OHLE, JR. (SEG 1950 SF) — 1917–2009
Contributed by John M. Guilbert
fountain of novel ideas and information,
and one of those amazing people whose
net was spread far and wide to friends,
students, colleagues of all sorts, his church
congregation members, his SEG buddies,
and, most importantly, to his family, his
beloved wife of 55 years, Martha, and
their four children and their offspring.
Salient in Ernie’s career was the major
genetic-geologic reinterpretation (with
John S. Brown) of the lead belt that
extended its life for decades, spurred his
major deposit discoveries in the belt, and
vaulted him on the path to renowned
expertise in the geology of Mississippi
Valley-type deposits worldwide. His reinterpretation
of the lead belt essentially
nullified Lindgren’s telethermal category
and underpinned the basin-brine model
for MVT deposits. His expertise was
acknowledged in 1996 by the dedication
to him of the SEG Special Publication
Number 4 on Carbonate-Hosted Lead-Zinc
Deposits, with a splendid detailing of his
career by Donald F. Sangster in its frontispiece.
As noted therein, his impact has
spread far and wide. Ernie also published
on iron ore geology and deposit evaluation,
copper at White Pine, ethics and
procedures in exploration, and a host of
topics in more than a score of important
papers). In his later years, he was asked
to serve as adjunct or visiting professor in
geology departments at the universities of
Utah, Texas-El Paso, and Arizona, where
he lectured on both geologic-exploration
topics and professional ethics to many
graduate students.
Perhaps Ernie would have partitioned
his life into three major sectors: his public
geologic-industrial side, his private family
and church member side, and his involvement
with the Society of Economic Geolo -
gists. In all three, he was powerfully motivated
by people and personal relationships.
Ernie joined SEG
after he graduated
from Harvard in 1950,
and there commenced
a long list of volunteer
works. He became SEG
President in 1974, and
his Presidential Address on “Economic
Geologists, SEG, and the Future” should
still be read. He acknowledged the role
of the SEG Foundation for larger scale
SEG purposes and funding and strongly
supported the launching of the SEG
Newsletter. In 1987, he asked the SEG
Council to initiate a grants program to
encourage faculty at smaller colleges to
attend SEG meetings; it became the Ernest
L. Ohle Grant Program. Always seeking
effective involvement, he was elected SEG
Foundation President in 1980–1983,
1986–1990, and 1992–1993, for a total of
eight years. Latterly, he chaired the
Foundation’s McKinstry Committee and
the SEG Special Grants Committee, having
almost single-handedly persuaded
Elizabeth McKinstry (Hugh’s widow) to
bequeath their estate to the SEG
Foundation. He was proud to receive
SEG’s first Ralph W. Marsden Award, in
1987, for outstanding service to Society
through the years. For his 58 years of
active involvement in SEG, his management
skills, his common sense, his warm
and friendly personality, and his devotion
to his profession and the Society were
evident. I think that everybody in SEG
who knew Ernie admired him.
So we see a long and distinguished
career as teacher, geoscientist, explorationist
and exploration manager, SEG
enthusiast, and friend to the profession
drawn to a close. SEG members, young
and old, we lost a real hero on April 27,
when Ernie Ohle died. 1
JOSEPH R. ANZMAN
Exploration Geophysicist
consulting
interpretation
project management
geophysical surveys
domestic & foreign
P.O. Box 370526 303-337-4559
Denver, Colorado 80237 telephone/fax
geophjoe@comcast.net
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