I'm always looking for 'newsy' posts, but not of this variety - obituaries. It is especially difficult when it involves someone I knew and admired. So it's especially sad to have report the death of hydrogeologist Tom Winter.
The following obituary was written by Tom's friend and USGS colleague Don Rosenberry and published in the newsletter of the Geological Society of America's Hydrogeology Division.
Tom spent his early career as a hydrologist drilling hundreds of test holes across the state and interpreting the glacial history of Minnesota. After serving as Minnesota assistant district chief, Tom returned to graduate school at the University of Minnesota to study hydrogeology and the effect of groundwater on lake hydrology. Just prior to finishing his PhD, Tom obtained what he considered to be the best possible position with USGS, working as a research hydrologist with the National Research Program. Moving to Denver and the mountains of Colorado was icing on the cake. Over the next 30 years, Tom’s reputation as a preeminent leader in the field of lake and wetland hydrology, and groundwater-surface-water exchange, was firmly established world-wide. Tom often said the best definition of scientific relevance was when everyone had to read a paper to keep up. Tom lived that definition, as evidenced by the many national and international awards he received during and following his career with USGS, including the Geological Society of America’s Meinzer Award, Society of Wetland Scientists’ Lifetime Achievement Award, National Ground Water Association’s M. King Hubbert Award, and the USGS Superior, Meritorious, and Distinguished Service Awards. Tom was a fellow of both the Geological Society of America and the Society of Wetland Scientists and a member of the American Geophysical Union and National Ground Water Association. His service to USGS, the hydrogeology and limnology communities, and the public, will be sorely missed. Thomas C. Winter, scientist emeritus with USGS, died at his home on Friday. Although retired from USGS in 2007, Tom never left his USGS home and continued to actively pursue research on lake and wetland hydrology and groundwater-surface-water exchange. He was a regular presence among his colleagues after retirement and was working in his office as recently as Wednesday. His death was sudden and unexpected; the shock and loss will be felt throughout USGS and the broader hydrogeological and limnological communities.
Tom Winter was born and raised in West St. Paul on the southeastern edge of the Minneapolis St. Paul metropolitan area. After receiving BS and MS degrees in geology at the University of Minnesota in 1958 and 1961, Tom began his career with part-time employment with USGS and the University of Minnesota Limnological Research Center. Tom made considerable contributions to the field of palynology (his first paper on the topic was published in Science) until he found permanent employment with USGS in the St. Paul office.
Here is a brief biography from the University of Minnesota, on the occasion of an Outstanding Achievement Award to Tom:
Thomas C. Winter earned B.A. (1958) and M.S. (1961) degrees in geology and a Ph.D. (1976) in hydrogeology from the University of Minnesota. He is now a research hydrologist with the U.S. Geological Survey, Denver, Colorado. His exceptional scientific and applied contributions have made him a world expert on wetland hydrology and wetland protection, management and restoration. He redefined the science of wetland and lake hydrology and its interconnection with the groundwater and geomorphic systems. He also developed the innovative concept of the "hydrologic landscape" and its application to research and water resources management. In addition, he serves as a mentor and advisor to scientists in academia and government.
I like the above bio because it notes his 'hydrologic landscape' concept, which was published in JAWRA. Of all his many contributions I am especially partial to that one.
Tom worked a lot with aquatic biologists, wetland scientists, watershed managers, stream ecologists, and limnologists and was as well-received at their meetings as he was at hydrologic and hydrogeologic meetings. He was also attuned to water resources management and did not view it as 'beneath' him to delve into such practical issues. He published his work in a broad spectrum of journals, which is why I heard one admirer say that if he had stuck to one discipline (hydrogeology) and a few prestigious journals in that discipline, he would have enjoyed a far more renowned reputation among the 'scientific elite'.
But that was not Tom; he wanted his work to be relevant to more than a few cognoscenti and strove to make it so. I like to think of Tom as being a 'jack of all trades and master of most'.
And he was a heck of a nice guy.
We're gonna miss you, Tom. It's indeed a barren landscape without you.
"This conceptual framework can then be the foundation for design of studies and data networks, syntheses of information on local to national scales, and comparison of process research across small study units in a variety of settings." --- Thomas C. Winter, from his JAWRA abstract, The Concept of Hydrologic Landscapes
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