Begin forwarded message:
From: Mark Caddick <caddick@VT.EDU>
Subject: Bob Tracy
Date: January 10, 2019 at 12:09:24 PM CST
To: <GEO-METAMORPHISM@JISCMAIL.AC.UK>
Reply-To: Metamorphic Studies Group <GEO-METAMORPHISM@JISCMAIL.AC.UK>, Mark Caddick <caddick@VT.EDU>
Dear All,
It is with profound sadness that we write to inform you of the loss of our friend and colleague Robert (Bob) Tracy, who died at his home in Blacksburg early on Sunday morning. Bob is survived by his wife of 50 years, Patricia.
Bob was a metamorphic petrologist whose thinking always stemmed from the deepest understanding of mineral structure and chemistry, and from a delight in the beauty of phase equilibria. He made important contributions to our understanding of the measurement and significance of chemical zoning in metamorphic minerals, of metamorphic phase equilibria, of the processes of crustal melting and the mineralogy of residual rocks, of the behavior of sulfur during metamorphism, of microprobe dating of monazite, and of the tectono-metamorphic evolution of New England. More importantly, Bob was a generous colleague, an enthusiastic teacher, and a fiercely loyal friend to the petrologic community.
Bob was born in Washington, D.C., in 1944. He obtained his A.B. degree from Amherst College in 1967 before receiving an M.S. from Brown University in 1970 for work that first introduced him to the Cortlandt Complex of New York State – rocks that he would continue to work on throughout his career. Bob’s Ph.D. (1975) was from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst under the supervision of Peter Robinson, focusing on metamorphic reactions and partial melting in pelitic schists of the Quabbin Reservoir Area, MA. He then moved to Harvard as a research fellow, during which time he published influential work with Alan Thompson on anatexis in pelitic rocks and inferring metamorphic histories from chemical zoning in garnet. Bob moved to Yale in 1978 as an assistant and then associate professor and moved to Virginia Tech in 1986 as full professor. Bob was a great departmental citizen, serving as Department Chair from 2005 and 2008 and as Associate Chair from 2012 to 2018, and devoted much time to looking after and nursing along aging electron microprobes from which he was able to extract phenomenal data. He was also extremely active in professional societies, in particular the Geological Society of America, in which he assumed numerous leadership roles.
Despite Bob's substantial and diverse research and service contributions, he will be known to many students because of his co-authorship with Harvey Blatt on the second edition of the textbook "Petrology: Igneous, Sedimentary, and Metamorphic” (published 1985). This landmark textbook was updated with Brent Owens and published in its 3rd edition as Blatt, Tracy and Owens in 2006. It is still in common use today.
Those who knew Bob well, or who have subscribed to this listserv for some time, will be aware of both the depth and the breadth of his knowledge. He was a font of information, a walking encyclopedia of mineralogy, petrology, optical and electron microscopy, sample preparation, wine, french cuisine, European and American political history, fishing, barbecue (amongst many other topics). Bob liked nothing more than using this information to help people, and students in particular, generally espousing his wisdom with a carefully pointed wit. His generosity in terms of sharing his time, knowledge, ideas, data and opinion are difficult to equal.
He will be greatly missed,
Mark Caddick & Nancy Ross,
Department of Geosciences, Virginia Tech
########################################################################
You cannot see "members only" boards if you are not a member, so please join the forum!