 |
||
|
|
Home
|
|
|
|
||
Remembrances|
|
||
|
|
|
|
|
|
||
|
|
||
|
|
Posted 3/30/08 J. Stewart Lowther, Professor Emeritus of Geology at the University of Puget Sound, passed away unexpectedly in Tacoma on March 25, 2008, due to complications after a fall. Cora "Nettie" Penberthy, his wife of 26 years, pre-deceased him in 2006. Born in Cochrane, Ontario, Stewart left high school during his junior year to enlist in the Royal Canadian Air Force where he was a navigator during WWII. He subsequently earned his bachelors and masters degrees at McGill University (1949, 1950) before attending the University of Michigan where he received his PhD in paleobotany in 1957. Professor Lowther came to the College of Puget Sound in 1956, joining what was then a two-person Geology Department, and taught there for the next 48 years. At the time of his retirement from full-time teaching in 2004 he was the university's longest serving faculty member. Stewart was a warm-hearted teacher with an amazing breadth of knowledge who touched and changed the lives of literally thousands of students and colleagues over the course of his career. Among his many talents, Stewart was also a professional photographer and a pilot. He was a president of the Washington Chapter of the Professional Photographers of America and the official aerial photographer for the USGS during the 1980 eruption of Mt. St. Helens. His aerial close-ups of that event are unsurpassed. In recent years Stewart devoted his energy to electron microscopy, studying rock microtextures and helping students and colleagues with their projects. Always the teacher and field geologist, Stewart had in January co-led a Geology Department field-trip to the Big Island of Hawaii. Stewart believed in the words of Winston Churchill who said, "A man makes a living by what he earns, but he makes a life by what he gives." He and Nettie established two scholarships for UPS students and most recently Stewart contributed a new scanning electronic microscope to the university. Stewart is survived by his family, the U.P.S. Geology Department, by his close friend Betty Blanchard and numerous other friends and colleagues, and by the thousands of students whose lives he enriched. A memorial service will be held in the Rotunda on the UPS Campus on Thursday, May 1st from 2-4 PM. In lieu of flowers donations may be sent to the Stewart Lowther Travel Fund, which supports student travel to professional meetings. University of Puget Sound, 1500 N. Warner St. CMB 1087, Tacoma, WA 98416. Guest Book: http://legacy.com/Tribnet/GB/GuestbookView.aspx?PersonId=106527687 |
|
|
|
||