Memorial to Jacob E. “Jack” Gair 1922–1998 JOHN F
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Memorial to Jacob E. “Jack” Gair 1922–1998 JOHN F. SLACK WILLIAM F. CANNON U.S. Geological Survey, 954 National Center, Reston, VA 20192 Jacob Eugene “Jack” Gair, 75, an internationally known economic geologist who retired from the U.S. Geological Survey in 1987, died of cancer at his home in Kensington, Maryland, on January 1, 1998. Jack was widely recognized for his research on iron deposits in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan and in Brazil, and on volcanogenic massive sul- fide deposits of the central and southern Appalachian Mountains region. Jack was born in Pittsfield, Massachusetts, and grew up in Lee, Massachusetts, where he was active in the Boy Scouts, attaining the rank of Eagle Scout. He served as a B-24 pilot in the 8th Army Air Force in England during World War II, flying 33 combat missions. Before and after the war, he attended the University of Rochester, where he played on the football team and was a member of Delta Upsilon Fraternity. Jack received a B.A. degree in geology and English from the University of Rochester in 1946 and was elected to membership in Phi Beta Kappa, the national honor society. He earned a Ph.D. degree in geology from The Johns Hopkins University in 1949. Jack taught geology at the University of Oregon from 1949 to 1952. He joined the USGS in 1952, devoting the ensuing 35 years of his career to studies of domestic and global mineral resources. Jack’s first Survey work was in a USGS field office in Iron Mountain, Michigan, where he studied iron deposits of the Upper Peninsula. From 1954 to 1956 he lived in Belo Hor- izonte, Brazil, undertaking geologic studies of iron deposits in the Itabira district and training Brazilian geologists in field and laboratory methods. From 1957 to 1968 he worked out of USGS offices in Denver and Marquette (Michigan), where he continued research on iron deposits of the Marquette and Iron Mountain districts in northern Michigan. Jack moved to the Washington, D.C., area in 1968. He appraised iron resources in Turkey in 1969, and during the 1970s investigated tungsten deposits in the Hamme district of North Carolina. From 1971 to 1973 he served as Deputy Assistant Chief Geologist and Acting Chief of the Office of Mineral Resources of the USGS. During the 1970s and 1980s he evaluated the potential for mineral resources on Native American lands in the eastern and southern United States, in several Wilderness Areas in Georgia and Tennessee, and in the Charlotte (North and South Carolina) 1° × 2° quadrangle. In 1975 Jack began studies of volcanogenic massive sulfide deposits of the Appalachian Mountains region, chiefly in the Mineral and Gossan Lead districts of Virginia, and in the Ducktown district of southeastern Tennessee; he continued these studies until his retire- ment. In 1979 he assessed copper deposits in Egypt. From 1976 until 1984 he served as U.S. representative to the highly successful IGCP Project 60 on massive sulfide deposits of the Appalachian-Caledonian orogen. Jack was the author of nearly 100 scientific papers, maps, and abstracts, an editor of several volumes, a Fellow of both the Geological Society of America and the Society of Economic Geological Society of America Memorials, v. 29, December 1998 65 66 THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF AMERICA Geologists, and a member of the Geological Society of Washington. He received the Meritori- ous Service Award of the U.S. Department of the Interior in 1987. Jack will long be remembered by his colleagues for his meticulous attention to detailed and accurate descriptions of geologic features, and for his insistence that any interpretation was inadequate unless it explained all observed features. His maps and reports on the Michigan iron ranges, in particular, are a timeless contribution to knowledge of U.S. mineral resources. Jack enjoyed photography and world travel, and was active in the Science and Religion Group of the Cedar Lane Unitarian Church in Bethesda, Maryland. He was also an associate member of the Woman’s National Democratic Club. Survivors include his wife of 53 years, Peggy Lou Davis Gair; his daughter, Cynthia; his sons, Dan and Philip; his grandaughter, Aja; and two brothers, David and Robert. Jack’s family, his many friends, and his geologic work were the cornerstones of his life. SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY OF J. E. GAIR 1950 Some effects of deformation in the central Appalachians: Geological Society of America Bulletin, v. 61, p. 857–876. 1956 (and Wier, K. L.) Geology of the Kiernan quadrangle, Iron County, Michigan: U.S. Geo- logical Survey Bulletin 1044, 88 p. 1958 Age of gold mineralization at the Morro Velho and Raposos mines, Minas Gerais: Boletim da Sociedade Brasileira da Geologia, v. 7, p. 39–45. 1962 Geology and ore deposits of the Nova Lima and Rio Acima quadrangles, Minas Gerais, Brazil: U.S. Geological Survey Professional Paper 341-A, 67 p. 1965 (and Case, J. E.) Aeromagnetic map of parts of Marquette, Dickinson, Baraga, Alger, and Schoolcraft Counties, Michigan, and its geologic interpretation: U.S. Geological Survey Geophysical Investigations Map GP-467, three sheets. 1968 (and Thaden, R. E.) Geology of the Marquette and Sands quadrangles, Michigan: U.S. Geological Survey Professional Paper 397, 77 p. 1969 (and Capan, U. Z.) Appraisal of iron deposits in southern and western Turkey: U.S. Geo- logical Survey Administrative Report, 37 p. 1970 (and Cannon, W. F.) A revision of stratigraphic nomenclature for Middle Precambrian rocks in northern Michigan: Geological Society of America Bulletin, v. 81, p. 2843–2846. 1975 Geology and ore deposits of the Palmer quadrangle, Marquette County, Michigan: U.S. Geological Survey Professional Paper 769, 159 p. 1976 (and Bird, M. L.) Compositional variations in wolframite from the Hamme (Tungsten Queen) mine, North Carolina: U.S. Geological Survey Journal of Research, v. 4, p. 583–588. 1977 Structural control of Hamme tungsten deposit, Vance County, North Carolina: U.S. Geological Survey Map I-1009. 1980 (and Slack, J. F.) Stratabound massive sulfide deposits of the U.S. Appalachians, in Vokes, F. M., and Zachrisson, E., eds., Stratabound sulphides of the Caledonian-Appalachian orogen: Geological Survey of Ireland Special Paper No. 5, p. 67–81. 1981 Lower Proterozoic glacial deposits of northern Michigan, U.S.A., in Hambrey, M. J., and Harland, W. B., eds., Earth’s pre-Pleistocene glacial record (International Geological Correlation Programme, Project 38): Cambridge, UK, Cambridge University Press, p. 803–806. 1982 Blue Ridge massive sulfide model, in Allard, G. O., and Carpenter, R. H., eds., Explo- ration for metallic resources in the Southeast: Athens, University of Georgia, p. 41–43. —— (and Pavlides, L., and Cranford, S. L.) Central Virginia volcanic-plutonic belt as host for massive sulfide deposits: Economic Geology, v. 77, p. 233–272. MEMORIAL TO JACOB E. “JACK” GAIR 67 —— (and Slack, J. F.) Geologic map of the Cohutta Wilderness and the Hemp Tom Roadless Area, northern Georgia and southeastern Tennessee: U.S. Geological Survey Miscella- neous Field Studies Map 1415-A. —— (and Gazdik, G. C., and Dunn, M. L.) Mineral resource potential map of the Cohutta Wilderness and Hemp Top Roadless Area, northern Georgia and southeastern Tennessee: U.S. Geological Survey Miscellaneous Field Studies Map 1415-C. 1984 (and Vokes, F. M.), editors, Massive sulfide deposits of the Appalachian-Caledonian orogen: Economic Geology, Special Issue, v. 79, p. 1425–1758. —— (and Slack, J. F.) Deformation, geochemistry, and origin of massive sulfide deposits, Gossan Lead district, Virginia: Economic Geology, v. 79, p. 1483–1520. 1985 (and Heran, W. D., Smith, B. D., and Bayer, K. C.) Mineral-resource assessment of the Cherokee Indian Reservation, North Carolina: U.S. Geological Survey Administrative Report, 108 p. 1988 (and Marlow, J. I. II) Review of mineral resources of some eastern and southern United States Indian Lands: U.S. Bureau of Indian Affairs Administrative Report 111, 98 p. 1989 editor, Mineral resources of the Charlotte 1° × 2° quadrangle, North Carolina and South Carolina: U.S. Geological Survey Professional Paper 1462, 171 p. Printed in U.S.A. on Recycled Paper 12/98 .