JOSEPH L. WEITZ ’44

JOSEPH L. WEITZ, professor emeritus of geology at Colorado State University in Fort Collins and a former assistant professor of geology at Wesleyan, died July 22, 2015, at age 93. He was the brother of John H. Weitz of the class of 1938. A member of Delta Kappa Epsilon, he received his degree with honors and was elected to Sigma Xi. He received an MS and a PhD from Yale University. During World War II he served in the U.S. Army Air Forces. He did his doctoral field studies in Newfoundland, co-authored a geologic map of Wyoming in 1954, and worked for the U.S. Geologic Survey. He joined his father’s company, Independent Explosives Company, in Pennsylvania for three years, then left to teach at Wesleyan from 1958-1960. In 1960 he took a position as professor of geology at Colorado State University in Fort Collins, retiring in 1983. During this time he served as director of the Earth Science Curriculum Project and did significant summer field work for the U.S.G.S. in Wyoming, Montana, Idaho, Connecticut, Colorado, and Switzerland. He was a member and leader of several professional societies and authored several publications for the U.S.G.S. Active in his community, he had been a volunteer firefighter and also helped to establish the Front Range Forum, an educational program, in addition to helping to arrange and catalogue the mineral collection at the Fort Collins Museum. Survivors include his wife, Jean Corthell Weitz, three children, one grandson, and a large extended family. One granddaughter preceded him in death.