E-mail Announcements

Subject: Sad news about Bill Sackett

Colleagues,
It is my sad duty to inform you that Bill Sackett passed away the evening of November 30th. He was admitted to the emergency room at Palms of Pasadena Hospital last Monday (Nov. 24) and diagnosed with acute leukemia. Those of us who were part of the early days of the Department of Marine Science knew him well. In 1979 he was recruited from Texas A & M to be Department Chair, a position he held until December of 1982. He presided over some of the most rapid and significant growth of our program. Bill remained on the faculty as a Distinguished Research Professor until his retirement in 1997. Bill was a pioneer in stable isotope geochemistry and an active member of our chemical oceanography group. He was also an excellent mentor and in 1984 one of his Ph.D. students, Roger Burke, was awarded the first Lake Fellowship. I am sure Ann Sackett and Bill's family would appreciate receiving notes of sympathy which might include what Bill meant to you as a colleague and friend. Their address is: 2500 Driftwood Drive South, St. Petersburg, Florida 33705. A memorial service will be held later this month and details will follow once they have been crystallized.
Peter Betzer

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