G.O. Raasch

Gilbert O. Raasch was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin on May 27, 1903.  He died in Calgary, Alberta, Canada, on January 20, 1999, at the age of 95.  His interest in geology began at an early age, collecting Devonian fossils along the Milwaukee River.  Hired as an assistant at the Milwaukee Public Museum when he was only 17 years old, he rose in rank to associate curator before leaving there in 1929.  From 1929-1936, Raasch was curator of the Geology Museum at the University of Wisconsin in Madison, where he received his B.A. and Ph.D.

In the course of conducting geological surface areal work, subsurface studies, and core-drilling in Oklahoma in 1938 and 1939, Raasch encountered a rich and widespread zone of insect-bearing strata.  In 1939 he sent about 70 specimens to Frank Carpenter, who immediately set about arrangements to do field work with Raasch the following summer.  They collected about 5,000 fossils in 10 weeks of field work.  Raasch's work on the stratigraphy of the widespread Midco beds formed the basis of his PhD thesis.  The work was interrupted by the Second World War, but his dissertation was completed in 1946.  

After World War 2, Raasch worked briefly at the Illinois State Geological Survey.  In 1953, he moved to Calgary to work as a paleontologist in petroleum exploration for a number of oil companies including Shell Canada.  He founded Raasch &Associates, a private paleontological consulting firm, in 1967, which he ran until well into his eighties.
 
Dr. Raasch had many interests in paleontology and geology, however, he is most noted for his expertise and innovative work on the Cambrian of central North America and the Devonian of the central U.S. and western Canada.  Spanning nearly 75 years, his publication record includes such well-respected papers as the GSA Special Paper on the Cambrian Merostomata published in 1939. The extensive and well-documented paleontological collections he made throughout his life continue to serve as the basis for recent papers on Cambrian, Silurian, and Devonian paleontology.  These collections and his research
will remain his legacy far into the future.

Photos courtesy Marie Dvorzak, Geology and Geophysics Library, University of Wisconsin - Madison.  Biographical information courtesy of Dr. Joanne Kluessendorf, Dept. Geology, University of Illinois.

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