It is with great sadness that we belatedly acknowledge the loss of Dr Renoj J. Thayyen, a valued member of the Himalayan glaciology community and of the International Glaciological Society. Born in Kannur, Kerala State of India on 9 April 1968, Dr. Thayyen was married...
In Memoriam
Roger LeBaron Hooke, 1939-2021
10 March 2021
Roger LeBaron Hooke passed away on 10 March 2021, a few days after sustaining severe head injuries in an ice-skating fall. He was 82 years old. As his widow put it to me, the ice finally got him. Roger's scientific contributions covered a wide range of topics, but...
Lowell Allan (Al) Rasmussen, 1937–2021
13 February 2021
Following a fall and a short illness, Al passed away on 13 February 2021 at age 83, in Seattle, Washington, USA. Al was born in 1937 in Enumclaw, in the foothills of the Washington Cascades near Seattle. He graduated from West Seattle High School, and in 1959 he...
William Douglas Harrison, 1936-2020
30 October 2020
After a long illness, William (Will) Douglas Harrison passed away on 30 October 2020 in Fairbanks, Alaska, USA, where he had spent the last 48 years of his life. Will was born in Saint John, New Brunswick, Canada, in 1936; the year of Black Rapids Glacier’s last...
Wendell V. Tangborn, 1927-2020
03 October 2020
Wendell Verner Tangborn passed away on 3 October 2020. He was 93. The cause of death was congestive heart failure. He died peacefully at Mirabella Retirement Community, in Seattle, Washington, USA, where he lived with his wife Andrea Lewis. Born in Sioux City, Iowa,...
C. Simon L. Ommanney, 1942-2020
18 September 2020
Simon Ommanney, who from 1993 to 2003 served as Secretary General of the IGS, died in Foxboro, Ontario, Canada, on 18 September 2020. Simon was born in 1942 in Farnham, Surrey, England, where the Ommanney name has long associations with the Royal Navy and polar...
Konrad ‘Koni’ Steffen, 1952-2020
08 August 2020
On Saturday 8 August this year, a long-standing member of the IGS left us abruptly. Professor Konrad Steffen died in an accident during his annual field work on the Greenland ice sheet. Koni, as he was always called by his friends and students, was an active...
Anker Weidick, 1928-2020
12 March 2020
Anker Weidick, emeritus scientist in the Geological Survey of Denmark and Greenland (GEUS) Department of Glaciology and Climate, passed away Thursday March 12. Anker Weidick was a member of the International Glaciological Society from 1955 to 1997, the year after his...
Gunnar Østrem, 1922-2020
12 January 2020
Gunnar Muldrup Østrem was born in Oslo on March 25, 1922. He died on January 12, 2020, close to 98-years-old. He had been a member of the IGS since 1955 and was made an honorary member in 2001. Gunnar was always fond of the outdoor life, understanding nature and...
Wallace ‘Wally’ Broecker, 1931-2019
18 February 2019
Wallace S. “Wally” Broecker died on Monday February 18, 2019 in Manhattan, New York. He was 87. Broecker was a leading climate scientist who coined the terms “Global Warming,” “Abrupt Climate Change,” and commented on the “unplanned, man-made climate experiment.” He...