Donald H. Kupfer

Kupfer, Donald H.
4 Oct 1918 - 20 Nov 2010
Donald H. Kupfer died 20 November 2010 at Powell, WY from complications due to his age of 92. The son of Cyril and Mildred (Cortelyou) Kupfer, he was born October 4, 1918 in Los Angeles, CA. He attended St Paul Catholic School, Mount Vernon Jr. High School, and Los Angeles High School. He received degrees in geology from Cal Tech (BA - 1940), and UCLA (MA - 1942), and Yale (Ph.D. - 1951). During WWII he was an ensign in the USNR, serving in Hawaii and Okinawa.
Dr. Kupfer was primarily a "field" geologist, mapping the geology in many parts of California, Arizona, and Colorado, mainly for the U. S. Geological Survey (USGS). He met his wife, Romaine (Littlefield), who was also a geologist, at the USGS in Washington DC, where they were married on June 7, 1952. (They used the sword of Major John Wesley Powell, after whom the city of Powell, WY is named, to cut their wedding cake.) They were then transferred to Claremont, CA, to assist in the mapping of the borate deposits of the Mojave Desert region.
In 1955 the family (now with 2 young children, Madeleine and John) moved to Baton Rouge where Dr. Kupfer was a professor of geology for 25 years at Louisiana State University. While at LSU he became a specialist in the structure of salt domes, mapping in all six Louisiana underground salt mines as well as studying salt deposits around the world.
After retiring from LSU Geology Department in 1980, he became a salt-mine consultant, specializing in safe-mining practices and the potential use of salt domes for the storage of radioactive "waste" materials. He and Romaine retired to Canon City, CO in 1983, where they became active in several local organizations. In 2002 he and Romaine moved to Powell, WY to be near their daughter and grandchildren. At the time of his death, he had published over 50 scientific papers, many in major scientific journals.
Donald Kupfer is survived by his wife, and two children [John Kupfer in Orange, CA; Madeleine Van Epps in Powell, WY] and three grandchildren. He was preceded in death by his parents (above), sister Madeleine, and brother Robert, all of Los Angeles, CA. Services will be private. In lieu of flowers, contributions can be made to a favorite charity or the Salvation Army.