GERALD M. FRIEDMAN: CARBONATE SEDIMENTOLOGIST, PETROLEUM GEOLOGIST, AND TEACHER

Gerry Friedman (1921-2011) started out his professional life as a mineralogist, but ended up being one of the principal drivers of modern carbonate sedimentology. The conversion came when, as head of sedimentology research for Amoco, he initiated a major effort to better understand the sedimentology and stratigraphic architecture of the carbonates that form nearly half of the world’s traditional petroleum reservoirs. He left Amoco in 1964 to teach at RPI where he turned out many sedimentologists who greatly influenced the development of carbonate sedimentology in industry and academe world-wide. He finished his career as Dean of the CUNY Graduate School, all the while mentoring additional graduate students.

Throughout his academic career, he consulted to the petroleum globally. He was both one of the great oil finders and one of the most sought-after lecturers on carbonate sedimentology, strongly influencing industry thinking on carbonates. In fact, Gerry's greatest legacy is probably the effect he had on the field of carbonate sedimentology through his facilitating of others' efforts and influencing their thinking. Thus, his contributions to carbonate sedimentology, and geology as a whole, far exceed his extensive publication record. As editor of JSP (now JSR) and later through the founding of Carbonates and Evaporites, he encouraged the growth of a strong literature base in carbonate sedimentology. In addition, his regional journals Northeastern Geology and Northeastern Environmental Science, and their combined successor, and his work with the History of Earth Sciences Society greatly aided the development of our understanding of regional geology in northeastern North America and our knowledge of the history of geology.