Eric J. Essene

A year before I received my phd from Michigan Eric Essene arrived on campus. He was not on my committe, but every day we and a couple of others had bag lunch in CC Little Hall. Eric was full of geologic tales and informed me of a key item for my thesis that H2 gas could be a product of serpentinization. This helped me explain why Mother Lode type gold ores are associated with ophiolites. Thank you Eric. You died too young! But your work as a teacher who changed the geology dept at Michigan...

Eric
Wherever you are, soul and mind, please remain with us. Nature needs you to keep revealing her wonderful worlds of rocks and minerals
Fernando Ortega, UNAM, Mexico

It was with shock and sadness I read of Eric's passing. We were grad students together at Cal/Berkeley in the 1960's and he was such a free spirit he made us feel more cheerful and able to face trouble. He stayed with us briefly when he was a postdoc at Cambridge Univ Emgland and again presented a fresh view on British Univ life most entertaining. He will be missed.

Eric and I were roomates in Fife's graduate student office at Berkley.He delighted in scaling the Building to enter through the window on varipos occasions. His sntics and devotion to geology are already missed.

Dr. Essene was my first geology professor - a freshman seminar on the evolution of North America. I did my first project on the evolution of the earth's first atmosphere, and it is what hooked me onto geology. Dr. Essene encouraged me to attend U of M's field camp that summer in Wyoming, and after taking an intro course in the Tetons, no one could turn back. I am saddened to hear of his passing, and appreciate the chance to reflect on an influential mentor.

To Joyce and Eric's family,

I would like to express my condolences and sadness at Eric's passing. Eric was probably the only person I ever met who was more stubborn than I am; I think one of his hallmarks was his superior academic courage--I learned a great deal about how to stand up for my ideas from him. Tonight, I'll buy a scotch and say a toast to Eric, while remembering how he laughed and told stories as he lit the campfire with an enormous blowtorch.

You were a great influence to me as I did my graduate work at U of M. Party on, Eric.