Gary Servos

Dr. Gary Gordon Servos, 87, of Spring, Texas passed away July 18, 2025.

He was born April 23, 1938, in Kansas City, Kansas to the late Harvey and Vera Servos.

He is survived by his wife of 66 years, Lorene, and 3 children, Gregory (Penny) Servos, Garrick Servos, and Stacia (Karl Mejia) Servos; and nephew, Jeff Miller.

He was proud Papa to 4 grandchildren, Phillip (Amy) Servos, Amy 'Missy' (Dalton) Eschberger, Gabe Mejia, and Adrian Mejia; and even prouder Papa to great grandchild, Natalie Servos.

In addition to his parents, he is preceded in death by his sister, Gloria 'Dusty' Miller.

Some of Gary's 25 first cousins, who he loved staying connected with, have also preceded him in death.

He attended Washington High School (Kansas City) where he played basketball and was given the loving nickname of Twinkle Toes. Upon graduation, Gary entered Kansas State University where he was member of Sigma Chi Fraternity. He and Lorene met their freshman year at Kansas State on a date set up (at Gary's request) by a fraternity brother from her hometown. They were married just before the beginning of their senior year. In 1961 Gary earned dual Bachelor of Science degrees in geology and geophysics from Kansas State. He worked his way through college and also spent the summer after graduation earning money as a 'doodlebugger' near Carlsbad, NM for Shell Oil before heading to graduate school at Michigan State University. He earned a Ph.D. in geophysics from Michigan State in 1965. During his time in the doctorate program, he and Lorene welcomed their first child.

For the first 24 years of his career Gary was involved in geophysical research, exploration geophysics and senior management with Pan American Petroleum (Amoco), TransOcean Oil Inc., Citation Oil & Gas, and Wolverine Exploration. He also owned Servos Exploration Associates. The next 24+ years he spent as founder, CEO and majority owner of Ovation Data Services, Inc. serving the geophysical community with digital data transformation and reformatting. He retired from Ovation Data Services in 2012. During retirement, Gary worked for hours-days-years on researching and mapping his family's genealogy - mapping his ancestors all the way back to 1595, the 16th century.

Gary was a longtime member of professional organizations European Association of Geophysicists and Engineers (EAGE), Geophysical Society of Houston (GSH), and Society of Exploration Geophysicists (SEG), but his 'labor of love' was the SEG. His membership in SEG began in 1962 and for over 55 years he dedicated his time, personal energy, personal wealth, business experience and leadership to the betterment of the organization. He spent extensive time on and in roles within SEG and SEG Foundation, serving on 11 different committees, including Youth Education Committee (6 years), Foundation Development Committee (7 years) and Finance Committee (6 years, 2 as chair) but most notably he served 2 years as Chairman of the Board of Directors of the SEG Foundation and was a Trustee Associate for over 9 years. The society recognized his contribution of time and energy to the organization by bestowing Life Membership in 2008 and Volunteer of Year in 2012. Making the SEG Foundation his cause for over 30 years, he is credited with being instrumental in the growth of its funding and the success of its programs, including the Geoscientists without Borders program. In 2009 he established and began funding an endowment scholarship in order to provide academic merit-based scholarships and study grants to Junior, Senior, and Graduate students studying geophysics. As of 2025, 20 students (at 14 universities in 8 countries) have received this scholarship. Gary was passionate about geophysics – he influenced and touched many lives because of this enthusiasm.

From his university days into his professional life Gary forged many amazing friendships. He kept lifelong connections with his fraternity brothers, university professors, office colleagues, corporate heads, and ALL the neighbors he's ever lived near (here's looking at you St. Mary's Gang). He loved and worked hard for every community he was a part of.

A progressive neurodegenerative disease disrupted his daily life for the past 5 years but his spirit of always learning and legacy of giving continues with the donation of his brain to research through a program sponsored by CurePSP, in partnership with the Brain Bank at the Mayo Clinic.

The family will receive visitors August 2, 2025 starting at 1pm.

A Memorial Service will follow at 2pm.

Klein Funeral Home - Champions, 16131 Champion Forest Dr, Spring, TX 77379.

Any Memorial contributions should be made to CurePSP at www.psp.org/donate (or a neurological disease organization of your choice that sponsors research) or to the Society of Exploration Geophysicists at www.Seg.org/donate (earmark for Scholarships or Geoscientists without Borders).

The family expresses a special thanks to the caring and empathetic caregivers at Divinity Hospice and Homewatch CareGivers for helping us give Gary a peaceful exit from this world.

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