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Alexander McBirney Obituary
Alexander Robert McBirney
July 18, 1924 -
April 7, 2019
He was born July 18, 1924 in Sacramento California to Alexander Earle McBirney and Laura Anderson. He settled in Eugene 54 years ago with his wife Carmen and four children, and worked as a professor in the Department of Volcanology at the University of Oregon. During his long career he carried out extensive research in the field of igneous petrology, and published numerous articles and academic books.
His passion for traveling was enhanced by his knowledge of French, Spanish and German, which allowed him to work extensively abroad with many renowned scientists. He even translated some books and articles from German and French into English.
Apart from his scholarly achievements, he was a man of many talents: cabinetmaking, model trains, book binding, and Freemasonry to name a few. Even in his retirement he always kept busy, entertaining his friends and family, and enjoying life with his wife in the house that he had built in 1967.
He is survived by his wife, Carmen in Eugene, daughter Anne (Rihda) of France, and grandsons Mathieu and Andre (Mona and son Casper) of LA; Christine (Kevin) and grandson Chris of Eugene, daughter-in law Karlen of Sandpoint, Idaho, and granddaughter Margaux in Seattle. He was preceded in death by his parents and two sons, Martin and Richard.
A memorial service will be held Saturday April 20 at 4:00 PM at the Hope Abbey at the Eugene Masonic Cemetery, at University Street and 26th Avenue.
Please sign the guest book at www.registerguard.com/legacy
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Memories and Condolences
for Alexander McBirney
4 Entries
Caltech & Univ of Oregon expedition to Skaergaard, Greenland
Richard Forester
April 23, 2019
Mac was one of the rare individuals that had a keen interest in both scientific and cultural affairs. Our conversations were always intellectually stimulating, and his dry sense
of humor was positively fantastic for me! His memory leaves me a happier person, and always with a smile.
Silo Fall interior Borneo. Thanks Mac
Andrew Cullen
April 21, 2019
In 1982 after a 5-year hiatus working, I uprooted from Denver, drove west in a VW microbus to study ore deposits at the University of Oregon. I was unsupported and will always be grateful for admission. I arrived two weeks before the Fall quarter started. There was a pre-quarter class listed as The Death March: An Introduction to the Cascades. Naturally, I signed up. That's how I met the man I would come to know as Mac. Like my dad, Mac was a West Point graduate -just separated by six years and a world war. That happenstance seemed give us and underlying connection, but that's probably psycho-babble rooted in the big Freud poster hung his office.
I still clearly remember the first day of Igneous Petrology. Professor McBirney walked in, and with a wry smile and twinkle in his eyes said, The Earth is a giant igneous rock mantled by the volumetrically insignificant products of sedimentation and metamorphism. I wrote it down verbatim. I was completely hooked!
In early spring Mac called me to his office and asked, What are you doing here? I answered that I intended to study ore deposits. Mac replied, That's a fine topic. paused, and then asked, Would you consider switching to volcanology and going to the Galapagos Islands? Playing it cool, as nearly jumping out of my skin, I asked for a day to think about it. I'm sure he saw right through me, chuckling a bit the next day when I returned to say YES!
While at Oregon I had the good fortune to be mentored by Mac and collaborate with Denny Geist and Ed Vicenzi, primarily addressing hotspot-ridge interaction in the Galapagos region. Mac was a field geologist, geochemist, numerical modeler, and an experimentalist. I learned to appreciate the scope of what can and should be done in geology. During my last year at Oregon, I worked on controlled oxygen fugacity crystallization of Hawaiian lavas. I'm actually in his book, standing at the furnace in Figure 6-32. We couldn't get the crystallization sequence right and realized the need to extend our experiments into the hydrous system - in Edinburgh for a part of a doctorate. I balked after considering the possibility being over forty and unemployed after PhD, a post-doc, and tenure denial. I did earn my academic union card elsewhere, studying terrane accretion in New Guinea. Afterwards, I the next several decades tear-assing around the world exploring frontier basins for Shell. The oil business, now there's a stable field. Mac once told me, perhaps only half-jokingly, I was one of his great disappointments. I think , however, he would be proud of the papers I ended up publishing on the tectonics of the Borneo region, including one on the volcanology of the Usun Apau plateau with Denny Geist as a coauthor. I just had to find my own island.
I've often reflected on how much Mac shaped my mind and life. Although we interacted directly for just five years, Alex McBirney left an indelible stamp of good on my life. Here are a few things Mac taught me that I will carry to my own grave:
1. Have a sense of humor and honor; remember Derek Bostock, emulps, the Ho:Tm ratio, and a deontological code.
2. Speak and read multiple languages. They are gateways to a wider world.
3. Know when to fold them. Once on someone's bad side, it's a vertical ascent to cross back.
4. Stay fit. The rocks you really want, demand blood, sweat, and tears to collect. GO to field and be observant.
5. Don't be trivial. If it's not worth trying to publish, it's probably not worth doing.
6. Keep going. Mac was the antithesis of tenured deadwood. He never quit asking the next question.
I'll close with one of my favorite memories. Ever! Mac, Denny, Ed, Eduardo Estrella, and I are on the back deck of the Albecora skimming towards Isla Marchena after a rugged few days in the Alcedo caldera. A few sips of rum ease our aches and lacerations. I am playing the only three chords I know on mandolin. We start trading impromptu verses about sailing to Roca Redondo at flank speed on an open sea. That's my heaven.
Via con Volcan! Mi amigo,
Andrew
Mac with the Condon Society and guest speaker Haroun Tazieff in April 1980.
Kurt Katsura
April 21, 2019
Mac was the first Geology professor that I had when I started at U of O in 1977, Geology 201. It was in Mac's class that I was introduced to the Condon Society, and became involved in the Geology student community at the U of O, often to the chagrin of the faculty. When Mt. St. Helens was awakening in 1980, Mac asked the Condon Society if we might want to help bring one of his friends and colleagues to the University as a speaker, Haroun Tazieff. We heartily agreed and co-hosted a number of talks that Haroun Tazieff held for the community regarding Volcanology. Perfect timing, this was the month before St. Helens blew!
Years later, when I was in the MS program in Geology, I asked Mac to be on my thesis committee. He agreed and provided many helpful comments and critiques. One of his questions to me then was, "Why did you spend so much time underground?" he meant this literally, as I had spent three years mapping the underground workings of the Champion Mine. I remember mumbling some answer and shrugging. His reply was "okay", with one of his smiles and the way the corners of his eyes would crinkle up.
James Clark
April 17, 2019
Mac was my PhD dissertation advisor in the late '70's. I consider him one of the most consequential and inspiring people in my life. He was a wonderful and innovative scientist, and an outstanding teacher. Mac could convey complex material with wit, charm, and a great sense of humor that I and most other students found compelling. I left the university before completing my dissertation, and Mac was instrumental in making sure that I did finish, and that my work met his high standards. I will always be grateful for that. He was a good friend to my wife, Kristina, and I during my time at the University of Oregon, and his loss is heartfelt. Prayers and condolences to Carmen, Christine, and the rest of the McBirney family. Mac will be missed, but leaves a great legacy.
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