[Rockhounds] Fwd: Rudy Tschernich

[Kreigh Tomaszewski]

I have a thumbnail specimen of tschernichite that I treasure because the
label shows it was collected by Rudy Tschernich. And his Zeolites of the
World book is part of my reference collection. Rudy will be missed, but he
won't be forgotten.

On Thu, Dec 28, 2017 at 1:28 PM, Tim Fisher <nospam at orerockon.com> wrote:

> Rudy was always very helpful and great to chat with, and had vast
> knowledge of rocks and minerals, and not just zeolites. Seems like the best
> go too early :(
>
> Tim Fisher
> Orerockon.com
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Rockhounds [mailto:rockhounds-bounces at rockhounds.drizzle.com] On
> Behalf Of Robert Verish
> Sent: Thursday, December 28, 2017 1:29 AM
> To: rockhounds at rockhounds.drizzle.com
> Subject: [Rockhounds] Fwd: Rudy Tschernich
>
> As per Beth Heesacker's request, I am forwarding this sad news.Bob V.
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Beth Heesacker <heesacker at coho.net>
> To: undisclosed-recipients: ;
> Sent: Tue, Dec 26, 2017 9:01 pm
> Subject: Fwd: Rudy Tschernich
>
> A great loss. Please spread as you can. Thank you Beth Heesacker--------
> Forwarded Message --------
> | Subject: | Rudy Tschernich |
> | Date: | Tue, 26 Dec 2017 18:52:33 -0800 |
> | From: | JulianGray <juliangrocks at gmail.com> |
> |
>  |
>  |
>
>
> It is with profound sadness that I report the passing of Rudy Tschernich
> today, December 26, 2017. Rudy was born in Snohomish, Washington in 1945
> and developed a love for mineral collecting with an exceptional passion for
> the zeolite group minerals that were so prevalent in his home in the
> Pacific Northwestern United States. His collection of nearly 12,000
> zeolites from worldwide localities, most of them personally collected, was
> eventually donated to the Rice Northwest Museum of Rocks and Minerals in
> Hillsboro, Oregon. Rudy served on the board of the Rice Museum before being
> invited by Museum co-founder, Sharleen Harvey, to join the museum as
> full-time curator following his retirement from the U.S. Postal Service in
> 2003.  Rudy served as curator of the Rice Museum until 2011 ​.​  Rudy was a
> dedicated field collector and was involved in many new discoveries, most
> famously those of the Neer City Road site in Goble, Oregon where three
> zeolites new to science were discovered in a small dig site.  These
> minerals included boggsite, cowlesite, and a mineral that was initially
> confused with apophyllite.  That latter mineral turned out to be a new
> mineral that was named in Rudy’s honor: tschernichite (Boggs, et al.,
> 1993).  Rudy was involved in recording the mineralogy of many zeolite
> locations, but arguably his greatest contribution to science was his 1992
> book, Zeolites of the World, in which Rudy meticulously documented
> thousands of zeolite localities.  Rudy was instrumental in the founding of
> the Pacific Northwest Chapter of the Friends of Mineralogy, which honored
> him in 2000 with the Noble Witt Award for his self-less contributions.  He
> was also recognized by the Rice Northwest Museum of Rocks and Minerals
> which named its Northwest Gallery in his honor.Rudy was active to the very
> end.  His last project was re-photographing his entire zeolite collection
> using modern photomicrography techniques.  His legacy lives on through his
> collections, his writings, his photographs, the museum gallery that bears
> his name, and the lives he touched.  He was also modest and wished no
> services be held in his memory. Nevertheless, we are grateful for his
> contributions.Boggs, R.C., Howard, D.G., Smith, J.V., Klein, G.L. (1993)
> Tschernichite, a new zeolite from Goble, Columbia County, Oregon. American
> Mineralogist: 78: 822-826.​Respectfully,  Julian Gray, Executive Director
>
> Rice Northwest Museum of Rocks and Minerals
> Hillsboro, Oregon
> http://www.ricenorthwestmuseum.org
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