American Mineralogist, Volume 74, pages 497499, 1989

Memorial of RobertMinard Garrels

August24,l9l6-March 8, 1988
Fnno T. M-q.cxrNzrn
Department of Oceanographyand Hawaii Institute of Geophysics,University of Hawaii, Honolulu, Hawaii 96822 U.S.A.

Robert Minard Garrels of St. Petersburg,Florida, died

on March 8, 1988. His death was a shock to the international geological community. We have lost the most
influential researcherand teacherin the field of sedimentary geochemistryof this century. Bob's death was even
more tragic, becausehe remained a productive and creative scholar virtually until the moment of his death. Although weakenedby cancer,Bob was able to edit a recent
book on a subjectcloseto his heart-chemical cyclesand continued to develop new ideas on the formation of
Precambrian iron formations.
Bob was born in Detroit, Michigan, the son of John C.
and Margaret A. Garrels and brother of John C. Garrels,
Jr. and Helen Garrels Murray. He grew up in Detroit with
a love for playing the piano. Although I thought he was
a greatrag-time player, his music teacherapparently did
not and told him, "Bob, you play loud and fast,but don't
try making it a professionl" Bob began his academiccareer at the University of Michigan where he received a
B.S. degreein 1937 in geology.In 1985 he told a newspaper reporter, "The reason I ended up where I am is
people kept telling me I wasn't good enough at other
things. I finally got pushed over into an area I was suited
for." After Michigan, Bob went on to Northwestern University to obtain his M.S. and Ph.D. degrees,and to begin
an associationwith that institution that spannedover four
decades.
My first contact with Bob was shortly after I finished
my Ph.D. at Lehigh University. We met at the Bermuda
Biological Station for Researchin 1962. The station was
an institution away from home for both of us, and it
became the site of many of our collaborative research
eforts in the 60s and 70s. From our first meeting on, I
was impressedwith Bob's uncanny feeling for a research
problem and his deep understandingand genuine feeling
for people. These qualities marked Bob as a scholar and
man for his whole career.
Bob was not a man to stay very long at any institution.
He joined the Northwesternfaculty in 1941,associating
himself with Ed Dapples, Art Howland, Bill Krumbein,
and Larry Sloss.He left in 1952 to becomeChief of the
Solid States Group of the Geochemistry and Petrology
Branch of the United StatesGeological Survey in Washington,D.C. In 1955hejoined the geologyfacultyat Harvard University, where he first met Harold Helgesonand
Bob Berner. He chaired the department from 1963 to
1965,returningto Northwesternljniversity in 1965.Hal,
now at the University of California-Berkeley, and I ac0003-o04x/89/ 0304-0497s02.00

companied him to Evanston, joining the Northwestern

faculty and continuingourjoint researchefforts.In 1969
Bob left Evanston for the Scripps Institution of Oceanography, and in l9l2 became the Captain James Cook
Professorof Oceanographyat the University of Hawaii,
where he joined one of his closefriends, Keith Chave, on
the faculty. In 1974 he again returned to Northwestern,
leaving there in 1980 to join the Departmentof Marine
Science,University of South Florida, where he held the
St. PetersburgEndowed Chair of Marine Scienceat the
time of his death.
Bob was an "holistic" man-a scholar, a teacher,a
gentleman,an athlete,and a friend and colleagueto many
scientistsspanningfour generations.Bob was a warm human being,and this warmth and concernfor peoplespread
over into his teaching. Students of all levels loved him,
and his graduatestudentsemulated him.
Bob loved to travel to Europe, particularly Belgium
and France, where he spent many hours with Roland

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MACKENZIE: MEMORIAL OF ROBERT MINARD GARREIS

Wollast and Yves Tardy. He enjoyed a cool gin and tonic

after a run in Bermuda, an old fashionedafter gymnastics
in Evanston, an elegant dinner and conservations with
friends and colleagues,and the companionshipof his wife,
Cynthia. He also liked long swims, and a game of tennis,
at which he had the frustrating (for his opponents!)habit
of lobbing one "where they ain't." Bob's breadth of athletic interestis demonstratedby the fact he currently holds
the Master's high jump record!
Perhapsthe center ofBob's successwas his interdisciplinary talent, his ability to synthesizeand integrate,and
his feeling for the "cream" of a problem. Bob was one of
the giants of the field of geochemistry.He certainly was
the recognized"father" of modern sedimentarygeochemistry, and his influence on the field of geochemistryhas
been as great as that of V. M. Goldschmidt. It is true,
however, that Bob felt himself to be a geologist.I believe
his one over-riding goal was to understandthe origin and
evolution of Earth's surfaceenvironment from a geological point of view.
Most of his scientific contributions including those
dealing with the geology and geochemistry of uranium
and vanadium deposits, Eh-pH diagrams, chemical
models for sea-water speciation, cation-sensitive electrodes, silicate and carbonatemineral stabilities and reactivities, environmental and sedimentary biogeochemical
element cycles, and most recently, the first quantitative
model of Precambrianiron formation sedimentologyand
geochemistrywere aimed at obtaining the great synthesis
of the workings of the surfaceenvironment of our planet.
He did not complete this synthesis,but until nearly the
day of his death he was moving toward it. As an aside,
it is interesting to note that V. M. Goldschmidt did not
complete his synthesis, Great System of Metabolism of
the Earth, becauseofhis death in 1947.
Bob loved to communicate his scientific thoughts in
informal discussionsand in papers,and he enjoyed writing an innovative book. He wrote eight books, including,
among others, an introductory textbook in geology; the
"bible" on Solutions, Minerals, and Equilibria co-authored with CharlesChrist; a book dealing with sedimentary rock cycling and one with human interferencesin
natural chemical cycles,the former co-authoredwith me
and the latter, with Cynthia Garrels and me; Water, Ihe
Webof Lfe co-authoredwith Cynthia; and a compilation
of thermodynamic data for minerals at low temperature
co-authoredwith Teri Woods.
Bob received many appropriate honors during his lifetime including election to the U.S. National Academy of
Sciences,the Arthur L. Day and PenroseMedals of the
Geological Society of America, the V. M. Goldschmidt
Medal of the Geochemical Society, the Roebling Medal
of the Mineralogical Society of America, the Wollaston
Medal of the GeologicalSocietyof London, Doctor Honoris Causa from the Universite Libre de Bruxelles and
Universite Louis Pasteur, and an Honorary Doctor of
Sciencefrom the University of Michigan.
Bob is survived by his wife, Cynthia, his son, JamesC.

Garrels, and his daughters,Joan F. Beitin and Katherine

G. Merrick. His loss will be deeply felt by them and all
his friends and colleaguesthroughout the world' Our sciencehas beendeeplyaffectedby Bob's presence.His mark
as a scholar and gracious human being has been left on
severalgenerationsof geologistsand geochemists,as well
as lay-people.
Srr,tcrBn

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