Lloyd Burckle

Burckle, Lloyd

Lloyd Burckle of Falmouth, ME, passed away peacefully Nov. 11 after a long battle with Parkinson's disease. He is survived by his wife of fifty years, Evelyn, his three children Colleen, Michelle, and William, and his most beloved grandchildren, Kyle, Emilia, Alexandra, Nicholas, Ryan, and Emma. He was born in Green Bay WI, to George and Hildegard Burckle, the fourth of five children, including Clayton, Robert, Rosemarie and Beth. He was a lifelong Cheesehead, but also a lover of the White Mountains and AMC's Cold River Camp. He had an accomplished academic career as a researcher and professor. He was a geologist, with a specialty in micro paleontology and climatology, and an expert in diatoms. He worked at Lamont Doherty Geological Earth Observatory of Columbia University for over forty five years. He published over one hundred academic papers including articles in leading scientific journals such as Nature. He also taught at CUNY Hunter and Rutgers University. His career highlights include spending over a year on the Vema, the "first ship to sail over a million nautical miles making scientific observations" and making research trips to Antarctica and Egypt. Later in his career, along with a colleague, Henri D. Grissino-Mayer, he advanced a theory that the unique sound of Stradivarius violins may have been due to the density of the wood used in their construction, caused by the short growing seasons during the "Little Ice Age." This theory was picked up by news outlets throughout the world, including the WSJ and the New York Times and was featured on the History Channel.

A service of remembrance will held on Sunday, November 23rd at 2pm at Ocean View retirement community in Falmouth, ME in the main lodge. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson's Research at michaeljfox.org.