Roger Webb Macqueen: 1935–2024

Abstract

When Roger Macqueen passed away on January 30, 2024, in Calgary, Alberta, the world lost a dedicated family man and a person of good principles and strong convictions. Roger's family have published a lovely obituary that can be viewed online [https://mhfh.com/tribute/details/45458/Roger-Macqueen/obituary.html]. The Canadian geological community also lost one of its stalwarts, whose career spanned the last days of geology on horseback, the acceptance of plate tectonics, and the rise of the internet and online publication. Here we pay tribute to Roger Macqueen the geologist, who we knew as a friend, a fine scientist and manager, and an inspiring colleague.Roger Webb Macqueen was born in Toronto, Ontario, on November 5, 1935. In later years he would enjoy the association of this date with Guy Fawkes Day, the festivities for which he had seen at first-hand while living in the United Kingdom. Roger was the eldest child of Walter Macqueen and Pearl (Webb) Macqueen; younger sister Anne followed some years later. His parents encouraged his youthful interest in natural history, including rock collecting, and would take pride in his adult accomplishments as a scientist. Roger's energetic disposition and considerable powers of persuasion were evident early on. While in his early teens, he persuaded his parents to buy a property on Long Lake in Ontario. The site had so impressed Roger on a first visit that he was adamant to purchase it himself from summer-job earnings had his parents demurred. He helped his father build a boathouse and later a cabin on the property, and its location on the Canadian Shield helped spur his nascent interest in geology.Despite such early evidence of determination, Roger was, by his own admission, an indifferent student in elementary and secondary school. The rote memorization that characterized children's education in those days held little appeal for an intelligent youngster who could skate by with little application to his books. A scare with his grades in his senior year, however, encouraged greater dedication to his studies, and he was able to gain admission to the University of Toronto in 1954.An especially pleasant reward for his academic application came at the start of his sophomore year, courtesy of a chance meeting with Marjorie Chepesuik, a transfer student from Canada's east coast. Roger, standing in line for registration with a cast on his right arm, asked the young lady for help filling in his forms. From that exchange sprang a relationship that would see Roger and Marjorie celebrate 64 years of marriage and welcome four children, ten grandchildren, and, most recently, their first great-grandchild.Roger found university life far more congenial than public school, and he relished the opportunity to learn-and understand-new concepts. He followed his early interest in rocks and minerals, taking as many geology courses as he could. Among these were lectures from J. Tuzo Wilson, one of the founders of the then-emerging field of plate tectonics. With his new focus on geology, Roger moved...