Donald H. Kupfer

Donald H. Kupfer died Saturday, Nov. 20, 2010, in Powell, Wyo., from complications due to his age of 92. The son of Cyril and Mildred (Cortelyou) Kupfer, he was born Oct. 4, 1918, in Los Angeles where he spent his early years. He received degrees in geology from Cal Techand UCLA, and his Ph.D. from Yale. During World War II 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. He met his wife, Romaine (Littlefield), who is also a geologist, at the USGS in Washington, D.C., where they were married on June 7, 1952. They used the sword of Maj. John Wesley Powell, after whom the city of Powell is named, to cut their wedding cake. They were transferred to Claremont, Calif., to assist in the mapping of the borate deposits of the Mojave Desert region. In 1955, the family, then with two young children, Madeleine and John, moved to Baton Rouge, where Dr. Kupfer was a professor of geology for 25 years at LSU, teaching both field and structural geology. He was associated with and directed the LSU Geology Summer Camp, south of Colorado Springs, Colo., for several years. 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. In 1962-63, as a senior postdoctoral fellow of the National Science Foundation he, with his family, spent a year in New Zealand studying the Alpine Fault system and its similarities to California's San Andreas fault system. In the summers of 1966, in Turkey, and 1967, in Pakistan, he was chosen by the Central Treaty Organization as part of a program to stop the "brain drain" by bringing the professors to the students. Among his other honors, he was a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, a member of Sigma Xi national science honor society, LSU chapter president 1968-70, honorary member of the Baton Rouge Geological Society, and a member of four regional geological societies. He was the 1974 recipient of the Leverson Award of the American Association of Petroleum Geologists and the 1997 Outstanding Educator Award of the Gulf Coast Association of Geological Societies. After retiring from the 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, Colo., in 1983, where they became active in several local organizations. Dr. Kupfer helped place the nearby "Oil Spring," site of Colorado's first oil well, on the National Register of Historic Places in 1996. In 2002, he and Romaine moved to Powell and became active in community organizations. At the time of his death, he had published more than 50 scientific papers, many in major scientific journals. Donald Kupfer is survived by his wife, and two children, John Kupfer, of Orange Calif., Madeleine Van Epps, of Powell; and three grandchildren and two great-grandchildren. He was preceded in death by his parents, sister Madeleine, and brother Robert, all of Los Angeles. Services will be private. In lieu of flowers, contributions can be made to a favorite charity or the Salvation Army. Arrangements by Thompson Funeral Home, 111 E. Third St., Powell, WY (307) 754-3322.